182 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. CANTO in. 



Till our deluded Parents pluck'd, erelong, 



The tempting fruit, and gather'd Right and Wrong; 



Whence Good and Evil, as in trains they pass, 



Reflection imaged on her polish'd glass; 



And Conscience felt, for blood by Hunger spilt, 



The pains of shame, of sympathy, and guilt! 460 



VIII. " LAST, as observant Imitation stands, 

 Turns her quick glance, and brandishes her hands, 

 With mimic acts associate thoughts excites, 

 And storms the soul with sorrows or delights; 

 Life's shadowy scenes are brighten'd and refin'd, 

 And soft emotions mark the feeling mind. 



And gather'd Right and ff^rong, 1. 456. Some philosophers have 

 believed that the acquisition of knowledge diminishes the happiness 

 of the possessor; an opinion which seems to have been inculcated by 

 the history of our first parents, who are said to have become miser- 

 able from eating of the tree of knowledge. But as the foresight 

 and the power of mankind are much increased by their voluntary 

 exertions in the acquirement of knowledge, they may undoubtedly 

 avoid many sources of evil, and procure many sources of good ; and 

 yet possess the pleasures of sense, or of imagination, as extensively 

 as the brute or the savage. 



And soft emotions, 1. 466". From our aptitude to imitation arises 



