CLASS III. i. 2. 25. OF VOLITION. 



Of fuperftition there infe the fides, 



And turn the fun to horror. Gracious Heaven ! 



What is the life of man ? Or cannot thefe, 



Npt thcfe portents thy awful will fuffice ? 



That, propagated thus beyond their fcope, 



They rife to act their cruelties anew 



In my affii;$ed bofom, thus decreed 



The univerfal fenfitive of pain, 



The wretched heir of evils not its own ! 



A poet of antiquity, whofe name I do not recoiled, is faid to 

 have written a book defcribing the miferies of the world, and to 

 have deftroyed himfelf at the conclufion of his tafk. This fym- 

 pathy, with all fenfitive beings, has been carried fo far by fome 

 individuals, and even by whole tribes, as the Gentoos, as not 

 only to reftrain them from killing animals for their fupport, but 

 even to induce them to permit infects to prey upon their bodies. 

 Such is however the condition of mortality, that the fir ft law of 

 nature is, " Eat or be eaten." We cannot long exift without 

 the deflruction of other animal or vegetable beings, either in 

 their mature or their embryon ftate. Unlefs the fruits, which 

 furround the feeds offome vegetables, or the honey ftolen from 

 them by the bee, may be faid to be an exception to this affer- 

 tion. See Botanic Garden, P. I. Cant. 1. 1. 278. Note. Hence, 

 from the neceffity of our nature, we may be fuppofed to have a 

 right to kill thofe creatures, which we want to eat, or which 

 want to eat us. But to deftroy even infects wantonly {hews an 

 unreflecting mind or a depraved heart. 



Neverthelefs mankind may be well divided into the felfifh and 

 the focial ; that is, into thofe whofe pleafures arife from grati- 

 fying their appetites, and thofe whofe pleafures arife from their 

 fympathifmg with others. And according to the prevalence of 

 thefe oppofing propenfities we value or diflike the poffefTor of 

 them. 



In conducting the education of young people, it is a nice 

 matter to infpire them with fo much benevolent fympathy, or 

 compaflion, as may render them good and amiable ; and yet not 

 fo much as to make them unhappy at the fight of incurable dif- 

 trefs. We (hould endeavour to make them aiive to fympathize 

 with all remediable evils, and at the fame time to arm them with 

 fortitude to bear the fight of fuch irremediable evils, as the acci- 

 dents of life muft frequently prefent before their eyes. About 

 this I have treated more at large in a plan for the conduct of a 

 board ing-fchool for ladies, which I intend to publim in the courfe 

 of the next year. 



25. Editcatio heroica. From the kinds and degrees of infan- 

 ities already enumerated, the reader will probably recolkft ma- 



VOL. II. T T ny 



