o62 HISTORY OF 



the conduct and protection of man. At Jiis command they 

 exert all their services against such animals as they are capable 

 of destroying, and follow them into places where he himself 

 wants abilities to pursue. 



As there is thus a numerous tribe, that he has taken into pro- 

 tection, and that supplies his necessities and amusements, so 

 there is also a still more numerous one, that wages an equal 

 combat against him, and thus calls forth his courage and his in- 

 dustry. Were it not for the lion, the tiger, the panther, the 

 rhinoceros, and the bear, he would scarcely know his own powers, 

 and the superiority of human art over brutal fierceness. These 

 serve to excite, and put his nobler passions into motion. He 

 attacks them in their retreat, faces them with resolution, and 

 seldom fails of coming off with a victory. He thus becomes 

 hardier and better in the struggle, and learns to know and to 

 value his own superiority. 



As the last mentioned animals are called forth by his boldest 

 efforts, so the numerous tribe of the smaller vermin kind excite 

 his continual vigilance and caution ; his various arts and powers 

 have been nowhere more manifest, than in the extirpation of 

 those that multiply with such prodigious fecundity. Neither 

 their agility nor their minuteness can secure them from his pur- 

 suits ; and though they may infest, they are seldom found ma- 

 terially to injure him. 



In this manner we see, that not only human want is supplied, 

 but that human wit is sharpened, by the humbler partners of 

 man in the creation. By this we see, that not only their benefits 

 but their depredations are useful, and that it has wisely pleased 

 Providence to place us like victors in a subdued country, where 

 we have all the benefit of conquest, without being so secure as 

 to run into the sloth and excesses of a certain and undisturbed 

 possession. It appears, therefore, that those writers who are 

 continually finding immediate benefit in every production, see 

 but half way into the general system of nature. Experience 

 must every hour inform us, that all animals are not formed for 

 our use ; but we may be equally well assured, that those con- 

 veniences which we want from their friendship, are well repaid 

 by that vigilance which we procure from their enmity. 



END OF VOLUME SECOND. 



