Chap. XVIII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 269 



to the genuis of men, and to modern times, by the invention ; for fpi- 

 rits were altogether unkwown to the antients. Thefe conliderations 

 Ihow what a wonderful world of art we live in, which may be faid to 

 be created by man ; for he has in himfelf fo much divniae particula 

 aiirac, that he is a creator not only of the works of the /itie arts, but 

 of thofe mechanical produclions, which I have mentioned. And it is 

 by fuch operations that he has exercifed and improved his intellec- 

 tual faculty, and prepared himfelf for a flate of greater pcrfeiflion in 

 the world to come. For if by inftin(fl he could have provided him- 

 felf with every thing he wanted in this world, as other animals do, 

 he never could have cultivated his intellect fo much as to make it 

 lit for the liberal arts, fciences, and philofophy, by which, and 

 which only, his intelle(Slual part could be fo much improved and 

 exalted in this world, as to make him fit for a better. 



And the mention, I have made, of the liberal arts, leads me to 

 fpeak of them. The fubjeds of the arts of life, or mechanical arts, 

 as they may be called, are natural things, which we have changed 

 in a wonderful way, and adapted to the purpofes of civil life. But 

 though they are moft ufeful, and fhow a great deal of fagacity and 

 natural parts in thofe who invented them, they have not the beauty 

 of the fine arts. Of one of thefe arts, I mean mufic, I have fpoken 

 already ; and I will only mention another, which I hold to be the 

 fineft of all the fine arts ; and that is poetry, the fubjctH: of which 

 is man himfelf For he has not only employed his genius upon the 

 works of nature, but alfo upon his own ; producing fuch works of art 

 as epic poetry, in which concur all the beauties that can be imagined; 

 firft oi \.\\t fi7ble, as it is called, that is xht/lory, which is the fuhjedt 

 of the piece, and which is carried on through a feries of events, all 

 tending, more or lefs, to bring on the cataftrophe or conclufion ; next 

 it abounds with variety of characfters, manners, and fentiments, fo as 

 to be as inftruitive as it is entertaining ; and it is adorned, at the fame 



time, 



