522 THE PHILOSOPHY 



are the refults of ignorance, which is always petulant and 

 pfefumptuous. Every creature is perfeft, according to its 

 deftination. Raife or deprefs any order of beings, the 

 whole fyftem, of courfe, will be deranged, and a new world 

 would be neceflary to contain and fupport them. Particular 

 orders of beings fhould not be coniidered feparately, but by 

 the rank they hold in the general fyflem. From man to. 

 the minuteft animalcule which can be difcovered by the mi- 

 crofcope, the chafm feems to be infinite : But that chafm is 

 aftually filled up with fentient beings, of which the lines of 

 difcrimination are almofl imperceptible. All of them pofTefs 

 degrees of perfection or of excellence proportioned to their 

 flation in the univerfe. Even among mankind, which is a 

 particular fpecies, the fcale of intelledt is very iCxtenfive. 

 What a difference between an enlightened philofopher and 

 a brutal Hottentot ? Still, however. Nature obferves, for 

 the wifefl purpofes, her uniform plan of graduation. In the 

 human fpecies, the degrees of intelligence are extremely va- 

 ried. Were all men philofophers, the bufinefs of life could 

 not be executed, and neither fociety, nor even the fpecies, 

 could long exift. Induflry, various degrees of knowledge, 

 different difpofitions, and different talents, are great bonds 

 pf fociety. The Gentoos, from certain poHtical and religi- 

 ous inflitutions, have formed their people into different cafts 

 or ranks, out of which their poflerity can never emerge. 

 To us, fuch inflitutions appear to be tyrannical, and reftraints 

 on the natural liberty of man. In fome refpects they are fo : 

 But they f eem to have been originally refults of wifdom and 

 obfervation j for, independently of all political inflitutions, 

 Nature herfelf has formed the human fpecies into cafts or 

 ranks. To fome fhe gives fuperior genius and mental abili- 

 ties ; and, even of thefe, the views, the purfuits, and th^ 

 taftes, are moft vronderfullv di verified. 



