OF NATURAL HISTORY. 465 



fecm to have been deftined by Nature to live in perpetual flavery 

 under the dominion of man, have the niildeft and mod gentle diC- 

 pofitions. It is pleafant, but, at the fame time, fomewliat contemp- 

 tible, to fee a troop of oxen guided by the whip of a child. 



In the human fpecies, the variety of tempers, affedions, averfions, 

 and ftudies, is indifpenfibly neceflary for fupporting the foclal ftate, 

 and carrying on the general bufmefs of life. Some minds are form- 

 ed for ftudy and deep refearch, and others for adion, courage, and 

 the exertion of bodily pov^ers. The fame variety in the difpoficions 

 and manners of the different tribes of animals is equally neceflary 

 for peopling the earth, and for fupplying the reciprocal exigencies 

 of its inhabitants. 



Befide the general fpecific charaders of animals, individual 

 charaders, efpecially among the human race, are ftrongly mark- 

 ed, and greatly variegated. In every government, and particu- 

 larly in commercial ftates, human charaders, independently of 

 the original bias, or genius, ftamped by Nature on individual 

 minds, are often fo difgulfed by a thoufand artifices, that it re- 

 quires not only time, but frequent interefting fcenes, before a 

 man can difcover the real charader even of an intimate compa- 

 nicM). Many men ailociate together in the mod harmonious man- 

 ner, and fhow every fymptom of friendlhip and attachment ; but, 

 when any of them happens to be diftrefled, and to require aid, all 

 this apparent friendlhip inftantly vaniihes, the afped of the Counte- 

 nance, inftead of exhibiting fympathy and cordiality, is converted 

 into a cold referve, and the unfortunate former companion is firft 

 fhunned, and then deferted. This pidure of human nature, we are 

 forry to remark, is too general ; but, thank Heaven, it is not uni- 

 verfal ; for there always were, and ftill are, men of noble and ge- 

 ■\- 3 N nerous 



