148 SALMON1A. [FIFTH DAT. 



sible a subject ; on which, perhaps, after all, it is wiser 

 to confess our entire ignorance, and to bow down in 

 humble adoration to the one incomprehensible Cause 

 of all being. 



POIET. I agree with you in your last sentence ; but 

 I still adhere to my own view ; and I hope you will not 

 object to a favourite opinion of mine, that instincts 

 are to animals what revelation is to man, intended to 

 supply wants in their physical constitution, which in 

 man are provided for by reason ; and that revelation 

 is to him as an instinct, teaching him what reason 

 cannot his religious duties, the undying nature of 

 his intellectual part, and the relations of his conduct 

 to eternal happiness and misery. 



HAL. "Davus sum, non (Edipus." I will not 

 attempt to discuss this view of yours, Poietes : but I 

 think I may say, that all the instincts of animals seem 

 to be connected with pleasure or utility ; and in man 

 the feeling of love and the gratifying the appetites 

 which approach nearest to instincts, are likewise highly 

 delightful; and perhaps there is no more pleasurable 

 state of the human mind than when, with intense 

 belief, it looks forward to another world and to a 

 better state of existence, or is absorbed in the 

 adoration of the supreme and eternal Intelligence. 



