4i8 THE PHILOSOPHY 



diftrefs are often too dreadful to be defcribed. Notwhhftanding all 

 thefe difadvantages, however, any government is preferable to anar- 

 chy ; and the comforts, pleafures, and improvements, we receive 

 from aflbciating with each other, overbalance all the evils to which 

 fociety gives rife. 



From an attentive obfervation of the manners and oeconomy o£ 

 animals, fociety has been diftinguiflied into two kinds, which have 

 hccn cMed proper, and improper, i. Proper Societies, comprehend 

 all thofe animals who not only live together in numbers, but carry 

 on certain operations which have a diredl tendency to promote the 

 welfare and happinefs of the community. 2. Improper Societies, in- 

 clude all thofe animals who herd together, and lov^ the company of 

 each other, without carrying on any common operations. 



r. Proper Societies. — It is almoft needlefs to remark that man 

 holds the firft rank in animal affociations of this kind. If men did 

 not affift each other, no operation of any magnitude, or which could 

 fliow any great fuperiority of talents above thofe of the brute crea- 

 tion, could pofFibly be efFeded. A fingle family, or even a few fa- 

 inilles united, like other carnivorous animals, might hunt their prey, 

 and procure a fufhcient quantity of food. They might, like the 

 bear, lodge in the cavities of trees; they might occupy natural cavea 

 in the rocks ; ihey might even build huts with branches of trees and 

 with turf, and cement thefe grofs materials with clay. This loweft 

 and moft abjefl view of human nature is not exaggerated. It were 

 to be wifhed that this grovelling condition of mankind were fidi- 

 tious, and that, in many regions of the globe, it did not, at this mo- 

 ment, exift. Thefe operations of men, when only acquainted with 

 the mere rudiments of fociety, indicate parts little fuperior to thofe 

 of the brutes. Man, even in his moft uninformed ftate, poffeffes the 

 inftinds, or the germs, of every fpecies of knowledge and of genius. 



But 



