MYTHOLOGY. i<) 



name. W r e are almoft inclined to think, that 

 the pagans were fenfible, that the temple and 

 the worfhip of the God of gods ought to be in 

 the heart of man. Mention is made, indeed, of 

 a temple that was dedicated to the unknown 

 GoJ, but we are ignorant whether or not Deftiny 

 were thereby meant. We muft not confound 

 this Deftiny, moreover, with the goddefs of 

 chance, of which there are fome antique ftatuea 

 that reprefent her in a recumbent pofture, and 

 playing with little bones ; for this was nothing 

 taore than an invention of fome ftatuary. 



VI. After this general and philofophical idea 



e Supreme Being, comes the politive religion 

 or* the pagans. This was entirely founded on 

 fable, h took its rile either from ancient 



:ions, or hiftorical events, altered or aug- 

 mented by the imaginations of the poets, by 



rftition, or by the credulity of the people ; 

 or elie it confided of allegoric or moral fictions. 

 A crowd of writers, and among the reft Noel le 

 Comte, (Natalis Comes) the abbots Bannier 

 and Pluche, &c. have made many refearches 

 into the origin of fable : and they think they 

 have difcovered its fource, i. in the vanity of 

 mankind , 2. in the want of letters and eharuc- 



I 3. in the delufive eloquence of orators & 

 4. in the relations of travellers-, 5. in t lie fic- 

 tions of poets, painters, ftatuaries, and dramatic 

 in the diverli y and uniformity of 

 names -, 7. in the igi of true phi! 



B 2 8. in 



