1800.) 
indifputable. It is, indeed, a perfectly 
laughable ignorance in the fpeculatift 
who, fitting in his ftudy, with all his con- 
venienices about him, fancies that all the 
world might devote as much time to men- 
tal exercife as he does. Were he to trace 
the hiftory of his fire and candle, his paper, 
pen, and ink, he would perhaps be fhocked. 
to find how many pairs of hands are em- 
ployed-to favour the work of his head. 
We may obferve in nature numerous 
infances in which a provifion feems to be 
made for proceeding much farther in the 
attainment of certain purpofes than is ac- 
tually done. ‘The amazing powers ot ge- 
neration beftowed upon fifhes, infeéts, and 
the whole vegetable race, are, in great 
meafure, apparently employed to pure 
lofs,—to the production of an abortive 
progeny, or of one which it is impoffible 
to bring to maturity. | But for this feem- 
ing wafte of effort we can {gtisfactorily 
account, from the neceflity of fecuring a 
point fo effential to the economy of nature, 
as the conftant renovation of what is fub- 
jected to conftant deftruction, Thus, too, 
in the felf-prefervation of the individual, 
we often fee an exertion of faculties, ei- 
ther of acting or enduring, valtly beyond 
the common calls of life, and which lie 
latent in the greater part of the fpecies 
during their whole exiftence. Thefe ex- 
amples fhould perhaps diminith -our fur- 
prile, that the fublime faculties granted 
to man fo rarely find opportunity for full 
expanfion, and that in whole nations, for 
many ages, no individual arrives at the 
intellectual excellence of which he 1s cre- 
ated capable. It is enough that they are 
inherent in his nature, ready to be pro- 
duced when the general condition of the 
fociety'in which he lives, and his own rank 
in that feciety, make it. expedient. Ifa 
dificulty can be diminifhed by extending 
it, we may allege that it prefles as much 
upon the corporeal as the mental nature of 
man. For how few of the fpecies are 
there who acquire the bodily powers of 
athletes, dancers, pofture-mafters, and the 
like; or the nobler and more ufeful talents 
of artifts of every kind? If we conceive it 
neceflary that a ftate of things fhould ar- 
rive in which all men fhould be mathema- 
ticians, aftronomers, and metaphyficians, 
it feems equally fo that they fhould be all 
artificers, painters, and mufcians. 
But the moralift, while he readily gives 
up the probability of a general attainment 
et thefe points of human excellence, will 
ftrongly plead the neceflity of fuppofing a 
future improvement in wirtue; for the 
true definition of this quality being fucha 
The Enquirer, No. XXII. 
211 
difpofition of mind or courfe of condué as 
promotes happinefs, it muft, in all places, 
conditions, and ftates of fociety, be effen- 
tial to the welfare of man. And, indeed, 
no profpect can be fo cheering to the heart 
of the philanthropift, as that of a period 
in which mankind, wifely and faithfully 
employing the powers with which they are 
endued, and profiting by the leffons of ex- 
perience, fhall fteadily purfue their own 
and the general good, and ceafe to infli& 
upon themfelves and others thofe evils 
which are the moft numerous and exqui- 
fite of the catalogue. If, however, we 
confider what are the caufes of thefe mo. 
ral evils, I fear we fhall find little reafon 
te expect their abolition, or even their 
confiderable diminution, while man is the 
creature we every where find him. It 
may be faid of a high degree of moral, as 
well as of intellectual, excellence, that it 
is the refult of thofe favourable circum- 
ftances in which a comparatively few only 
of the fpecies can be placed. The early 
difcipline of a good education, a happy 
immunity both from the ftimulus of ur- 
gent wants, and the temptations of power 
and opulence, leifure for the culture of the 
heart and underftanding, freedom from 
falfe principles and bad examples, are ad- 
vantages which can be obtained only un- 
der the fhelter as it were of focial infti- 
tutions, to the fupport of which numerous 
moral facrifices muft be made by the mafs 
of the community. They who are main 
tained, protected, and governed, without 
any efforts of their own, may well afford 
a greater attention to moral duties than 
thole who do all, thefe offices for them. 
But it is not from fuch a feleét and favoured. 
clafs that an idea is to be formed of what 
the human fpecies is capable of becoming. 
Let us now imagine an inhabitant of 
another world making a furvey of this, 
in the fpirit of a naturalift and a philofo- 
pher. He would difcern a beautiful eco- 
nomy of things, in which every fingle 
{pecies, befides providing for its own ex- 
iftence, is made fubfervient to the neceffi- 
ties of another fpecies; fo that through- 
out all nature nothing exits purely for it- 
felf, but the interefts of one are blended 
and involved with thofe of another. By 
virtue of this economy, however, he wouid 
find that facrifices are perpetually made of 
the advantage and even the being of in- 
dividuals, and that life is maintained at 
‘the expence of life, and enjoyment pro- 
cured at the expence of enjoyment, through- 
out the fentient creation. Moreover, he 
would perceive, that the operations of in- 
animate powers, fuch as the elements of 
eee Ne: % fire y 
