LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 187 



with the purposes for which that tree had its being? 

 Or will you choose rather to suppose that nature 

 planted mahogany-trees for the express purpose of 

 veneering- side-boards and dining-tables ? If so, 

 how is it they do not grow wherever side-boards 

 and billiard-tables are used ? Why hare they been 

 planted where side-boards and billiard-tables are, 

 or were till lately, unknown ? And did they answer 

 no intention, did they effect no useful object, before 

 these same side-boards and billiard-tables were 

 invented ? " Oh ! but," says man, 



" All things were made for my use." 



We have such a consummate opinion of our mag- 

 nificent SELVES, that whatever we find capable of 

 being made to contribute to our own enjoyments, 

 we instantly conclude, with a pompous vanity, not 

 a whit less ridiculous than that of the frog in the 

 fable, was made and sent expressly for our own 

 behoof. 



With what a proud sense of superiority do we 

 look down upon the inferior animals! yet how 

 slight an accident is sufficient to degrade the most 

 towering genius beneath the level of the most in- 

 ferior ! A stone in his path trips up his heels ; or 

 a little tumor forms upon his brain; or a few 



