213 



ON THE VARIETIES 



been passed over by naturalists as little worthy of their attention ; anu 

 because I wished to impress upon your minds, by the incontrovertiWe fact 

 of living examples, that nothing is low, nothing little, nothing in itself 

 unworthy m the view of the great Creator and common parent of the uni- 

 verse ; that nothing hes beyond the reach of his benevolence, or the shadow 

 of his protection. God alike supplies the wants and ministers to the en- 

 joyments of every living creature : he alike finds them food in rocks and in 

 wildernesses, in the bowels of the earth, and in the depths of the ocean* 

 His is the wisdom that, to different kinds and in different ways, has adapted 

 different habits and modes of being ; and has powerfully endowed with 

 instinct where he has strikingly restrained intelhgence. It is he that has 

 given cunning where cunning is found necessary, and wariness where cau- 

 tion is demanded ; that has furnished with rapidity of foot, or fin, or wing, 

 where such qualities appear expedient ; and where might is of moment, 

 has afforded proofs of a might the most terrible and irresistible. 



At the head of the whole stands man, the noblest monument of creative 

 power " in this diurnal scene," and, in a state of purity and innocence, a 

 faint image of the Creator himself ; connected with the various classes of 

 animals by his corporeal organization, but infinitely removed from them 

 by the possession of an intelligent and immortal spirit ; his chief distinction, 

 to the external eye, consisting in the faculty of language, and the means 

 of communicating and interchanging ideas: — a subject full of interest and 

 of importance, and towards which, therefore, I shall beg leave to direct 

 your attention after we have examined this lord of the universe in the dif- 

 ferent varieties he exhibits in different parts of the world, under the influ-^^ 

 ence of climate, manner of life, and incidental circumstances. 



Thus nature varies : man, and brutal beast, 

 And herbage gay, and scaly fishes mute, 

 And all the tribes of heaven, o'er many a sea, 

 Through many a grove that wing, or urge their song 

 Near many a bank or fountain, lake or rill : 

 Search where thou wilt, each differs in his kind, 

 Ta form, in figure differs. *^ 



LECTURE III. 



DN THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN RACE. 



Tnts far we have confined ourselves to the different classes of animak 

 below the rank of man. The sketch has been rapid and unfinished, but 1 

 hope nor altogether unfaithful^ or without its use. Let us now proceed 

 to a general survey of the human species ; the generic character by which 

 man is distinguished from other animals, and the family character by which 

 one nation is distinguished from another nation. 



If we throw an excursive glance over the globe, and contemplate the 



* Prseterea genus humanum, mutseque natantes 

 Squamiferum peondes, et Iseta armcnta, ferjeque, 

 Et varise volucres, Isetantia quse loca aquarum 

 Concelebrant, circum ripas funtisque, lacusque ; 

 Et quae pervolgant nemora avia pervolitantes ; 

 Quorum uuum quod vis generatim sumere perge, 

 Ireni^s tamen inter se dmerre figuris. 



DeNat.Rer. n.64t 



