106 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. CANTO in. 



With finer blush the vernal blossom glows, 

 With sweeter breath enamour'd Zephyr blows, 

 The limpid streams with gentler murmurs pass, 

 And gayer colours tinge the watery glass, 

 Charm'd round his steps along the enchanted groves 

 Flit the fine forms of Beauties, Graces, Loves. 



V. " Alive, each moment of the transient hour, 

 When Rest accumulates sensorial power, 270 



When rest accumulates, 1. 270. The accumulation of the spirit of 

 animation, when those parts of the system rest, which are usually in 

 motion, produces a disagreeable sensation. Whence the pain of cold 

 and of hunger, and the irksomeness of a continued attitude, and of an 

 indolent life : and hence the propensity to action in those confined 

 animals, which have been accustomed to activity, as is seen in the 

 motions of a squirrel in a cage; which uses perpetual exertion to ex- 

 haust a part of its accumulated sensorial power. This is one source 

 of our general propensity to action ; another perhaps arises from our 

 curiosity or expectation of novelty mentioned in the note on 1. 145. 

 of this canto. 



But the immediate cause of our propensity to imitation above that 

 of other animals arises from the greater facility, with which by the 

 sense of touch we acquire the ideas of the outlines of objects, and 

 afterwards in consequence by the sense of sight; this seems to have 

 been observed by Aristotle, who calls man, " the imitative animal;" 

 see Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XXII. 



