Xli ON ASIATIC HISTORY, 



cation of a natural and laudable curiosity ; for, though 

 labour be clearly the lot of man in this world, yet, in 

 the midst of his most active exertions, he cannot but 

 feel the substantial benefit of every liberal amusement 

 which may lull his passions to rest, and afford him a 

 sort of repose without the pain of total inaction, and 

 the real usefulness of every pursuit which may enlarge 

 and diversify his ideas, without interfering with the 

 principal objects of his civil station or ceconomical 

 duties ; nor should we wholly exclude even the trivial 

 and worldly sense of utility, which too many consider 

 as merely synonimous with lucre, but should reckon 

 among useful objects those practical, and by no means 

 illiberal arts, which may eventually conduce both to 

 national and to private emolument. With a view 

 then to advantages thus explained, let us examine eve- 

 ry point in the whole circle of arts and sciences, ac- 

 cording to the received order of their dependence on 

 the faculties of the mind, their mutual connexion, 

 and the different subjects with which they are conver- 

 sant : our inquiries indeed, of which Nature and Man 

 are the primary objects, must of course be chiefly 

 Historical; but since we propose to investigate the 

 actions of the several Astatic nations, together with 

 their respective progress in science and art, we may 

 arrange our investigations under the same three heads 

 to which our European analysts have ingeniously re- 

 duced all the branches of human knowledge ; and my 

 present address to the Society shall be confined to 

 history, civil and natural, or the observation and re- 

 membrance 



