LIFE AND CHARACTER 35 



the society of men, and constrained to roam in the mountains 

 and wilderness, there to herd and feed with the wild beasts of 

 the forests.""^ Yet this same society that he missed when in 

 the wilderness could at other times fill him with indignant 

 disillusionment: 



Man is cruel. Hypocritical, a Disembler, his dissimulation exceeds that 

 of any being we are acquainted with, for he dissembles dissimulation 

 itself. . . . Nay the whole of Human or Worldly Wisdom is a con- 

 tinual . . . practice of deceit, fraud, dissimulation & Hypocricy. The 

 more any man or woman approaches to Honesty & Simplicity, the more 

 he is accounted a Fool and he is in the broad road & hastening on to 

 Poverty, contempt & Misery, until Death relieves him from oppression 

 & disgrace.113 



The greatest single cause of man's imperfections, which man 

 ironically enough calls "human wisdom," is intemperance. It 

 is intemperance that makes man cruel, wasteful, avaricious, 

 treacherous, unjust. It is startling to come upon Bartram's 

 opinions on such subjects as government, economics, national- 

 ism, war, social institutions. One suddenly realizes that this 

 extremely shy, genial person, so remote from participation in 

 any form of "worldly" activity, a sort of scientific monk, never- 

 theless kept a sharp eye upon the world and its bustle, and 

 formed opinions often characterized by a hard, shrewd pro- 

 fundity. Here, for example, are a few general remarks on riches 

 and covetousness : 



According to the present systems of civilization Legislators affirm 

 that the strength & prosperity of a state depends on its Riches: Money 

 they say is the sinews of War, the Oil which keep the political wheels 

 in regular & co7itinual motion, The Mainspring of the State Machitje, 

 etc. etc. And for this Reason they encourage Mechanic Arts, Manu- 

 factures, Trade & commerce, in order to increase the riches of the 

 people. Luxury & effeminacy is accordingly not only countenanced but 

 encouraged . . . because they averr it gives spirit to Industry. . . . Even 

 Industry so great & almost universally applauded a Virtue ... is among 

 the pernicious & dangerous Evils, because it encourages Avarice, con- 

 tention, & in the end perhaps War. . . .^i* 



Suppress Covetousness which begets contention, violence, love of 

 power, riches, magnificence & fame. Intemperance destroys.^^^ 



"* Travels, 360. "* Bartram Papers, I. "* Ibid. "° Ibid. 



4 



