18 LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 



" Nature hath given (for their weapons of of- 

 fence and defence) horns to bulls, hoofs to horses, 

 swiftness to hares, a cavern of teeth to lions; io 

 fishes, the power of swimming ; to birds, the power 

 of flying ,- to man she has given WISDOM." * 



I find Geoffrey Crayon supporting the same opi- 

 nion : " Man is naturally more prone to subtlety 

 than open valour, owing to his physical weakness, 

 in comparison with other animals. They are 

 endowed with natural weapons of defence with 

 horns, with tusks, with hoofs, and talons ; but man 

 has to depend on his superior sagacity." Traits of 

 Indian Character. 



I hope it is not necessary to tell you, who know 

 me so well, that I consider the reasoning faculty as 

 quite distinct from the soul, which I believe to be 

 a portion of the divine essence, " divinam parti- 

 culam aurae," inhabiting the body, but not subser- 

 vient to any of its functions. Aoyou 



* I cannot resist the temptation to quote the two next lines, 

 as they afford a specimen of, perhaps, the first butt on record. 

 The old sinner was most likely drunk when he wrote them. 



it ovv otd&fft j Ka/./.s; . 



" For woman, she had nothing left. What, then, did she give her ? 

 Beauty." Is beauty nothing ? He afterwards tells us that 

 this same beauty is more terrible, in its effects, than fire and 

 steel united. 



