272 HISTORY OF 



But not only provisions of heat and light are thus supplied, 

 but its whole surface is covered with a transparent atmosphere, 

 that turns with its motion, and guards it from external iiijurv. 

 The rays of the sun are thus broken into a genial warmth ; and, 

 while the surface is assisted, a gentle heat is produced in the 

 bowels of the earth, which contributes to cover it with verdure. 

 Waters also are supplied in healthful abundance, to support life, 

 and assist vegetation. Mountains arise, to diversify the pros- 

 pect, and give a current to the stream. Seas extend from one 

 continent to the other, replenished with animals that may be 

 turned to human support ; and also serving to enrich the earth 

 with a sufficiency of vapour. Breezes iiy along the surface of 

 the fields, to promote health and vegetation. The coolness of 

 the evening invites to rest ; and the freshness of the morning 

 renews for labour. 



Such are the delights of the habitation that has been assigned 

 to man I Without any one of these, he must have been wretch, 

 ed; and none of these could his own industry have supplied. 

 But while many of his wants are thus kindly furnished on the 

 one hand, there are numberless inconveniences to excite his in- 

 dustry on the other. This habitation, though provided with all 

 the conveniences of air, pasturage, and water, is but a desert 

 jilace, without human cultivation. The lowest animal finds 

 more conveniences in the wilds of natiu-e than he who boasts 

 himself their lord. The whirlwind, the iiumdation, and all the 

 asperities of the air, are pecularly terrible to man, who knows 

 their consequences, and, at a distance, dreads their approach. 

 The earth itself, where human art has not pervaded, puts on a 

 frightful gloomy appearance. The forests are dark and tangled ; 

 the meadows overgi-own with rank weeds ; and the brooks stray 

 without a determined channel. Nature that has been kind to 

 every lower order of beings, has been quite neglectful with re- 

 gard to him ; to the savage uncontriving man the earth is an 

 abode of desolation, where his shelter is insufficient, and his 

 food precarious. 



A world thus furnished with advantages on one side, and in- 

 conveniences on the other, is the proper abode of reason, is the 

 fittest to exercise the industry of a free and a thinking creature. 

 These evils, which art can remedy, and prescience guard against, 

 are a proper call for the exertion of his faculties ; and they tend 



