470 THE PHILOSOPHY 



feelings, we muft acknowledge, that, in the acquifition of bad habits, 

 there is an evident force upon our natural inclinations, but that, in 

 virtuous aflbciations, the mind acquiefces with pleafure, and feels no 

 reftraint in complying with the examples it peiceives nor in acqui- 

 ring the correfpondent habits We arfe prone to evil ; but, when 

 not corrupted by improper imitations, Nature has made us much 

 more prone to good. 



Artificial language, which we learn entirely by imitation, diftin- 

 guifhes us, more than any other circumftance, from the brute crea- 

 tion. The proper ufe of it likewife forms the chief difference be- 

 tween one man and another; for, by language, one man difcovers 

 a fupeiiority of knowledge and of genius, while others exprefs by 

 k nothing but borrowed or confufed ideas. In an idiot, or in a 

 parrot, it marks only the mod abjed degree of ftupidity. It (hows 

 the incapacity of either to produce a regular chain of thinking, 

 though both of them be endowed with organs capable of exprefTing 

 what paffes within their minds. Men whofe fenfes are delicate, and 

 whofe minds are eafily affeded, make the beft adors, and the beft 

 mimics. Children, accordingly, are extremely alert in imitating the 

 adions, the geftures, and the manners, of thole with whom they af- 

 lociate. They are dexterous in perceiving ridiculous figures and re- 

 prefentations, which they imitate with eafe and propriety. Hence 

 we peixelve, in the education of children, the infinite importance of 

 regulating the principle of imitation. 



The education of the inferior animals, though fliort, is always 

 fuccefsful. By imitation, they foon acquire all the knowledge pof- 

 fefled by their parents. They not only derive experience from their 

 own fecfings, but, by imitation, they learn and employ the expe- 

 rience of others. Young animals model their adions entirely upon 

 t-hofe of the old. They fee tlieir feniors approach or fly when they 



perceive 



