GOODNESS OF THL DElir. 309 



complaint, and not of praise ? Further, by virtue of this 

 Bime superfecundity, what wo term destruction becomes 

 almost instantly the parent of life. What we call blights 

 a.re oftentimes legions of animated beings, claiming their 

 ])ortion in the bounty of nature. What corrupts the pro« 

 duce of the earth to us, prepares it for them. And it is by 

 means of their rapid multiplication that they take posses- 

 sion of their pasture ; a slow propagation would not meet 

 the opportunity. 



But in conjunction with the occasional use of this fruit- 

 fulness, we observe, also, that it allows the proportion be- 

 tween the several species of animals to be differently modi- 

 fied, as diffx3rent purposes of utility may require. When the 

 forests of America come to be cleared, and the swamps 

 drained, our gnats will give place to other inhabitants. If 

 the population of Europe should spread to the north and the 

 east, the mice will retire before the husbandman and the 

 shepherd, and yield their station to herds and flocks. In 

 what concerns the human species, it may be a part of the 

 scheme of Providence, that the earth should be inhabited 

 by a shifting, or perhaps a circulating population. In this 

 economy, it is possible that there may be the following ad- 

 vantages. When old countries are become exceedingly cor 

 rupt, simpler modes of life, purer morals, and better institu 

 tions, may rise up in new ones, while fresh soils reward the 

 cultivator with more plentiful returns. Thus the different 

 portions of the globe come into use in succession, as the res- 

 idence of man ; and, in liis absence, entertain other guests, 

 which, by their sudden multiplication, fill the chasm. In 

 domesticated animals, we find the effect of their fecundity 

 to be, that we can always command numbers ; we can 

 always have as many of any particular species as wo 

 please, or as we can support. Nor do we complain of its 

 excels ; it being much more easy to regulate abundance 

 than to supply scarcity. 



But then i\\\^nq-)erfecu7iditij^ though of great occasional 



