|v!y\| %\Z7\% l^^^^^^l '^.vodiivijo^ \fdmyi .^OFrAllFO% ^OFCALIFO% o o "^Aii^AiNn ]\\v .^OFCALIFO/?^ 40 ^\WElINIVERS/4 v>;lOSANCElfj> oc %a3AiNn]W^ ^aMUBRARYO^ ^^^l•llBRARYO/ '^(i/OJIWDJO'^ '^JO'^ , \\\E UNIVERi-/A o vvlOSAKCFI ^ { 0 I — ^^WEU^'IVER% ^VlOSANCElfj^ o "^/^ajAiNn 3WV ^«;,OFCAtlF0/?^ ^OFCAllFOMj^ ,^V\EUNIVER% jo^ ^. ^OFCAIIFO/?^ 4^: ^^ i/::M so IFO% n^; ^WEUNIVERS/A ^TiijONVSOl^ ^^OFCAllFOff^ "^^^AavaaiH^ io ^\WEUNIVER% ^vlOSANCElfj> \J% '^nymim^ 1^, "^/^dBAINaJWV ^\SlUBRARYQ< ^ ^vM-LIBRARYQ^^ \^my\^ '^ o "^/SaJAINfl 3WV >j,OFCAilFO% .^,OFCA1IFO% . \\\E UNIVERSyA ^ ^/5a3AINn3V\V .^.OFrAllFO/?^^ ^OFCALIF0% ""''^' "^OAavyaiH^"^ ^<5Aijvagn-^v^'^ ^.OFCALIF0% ^<5AJivayniV^'^ '4. aOFCA1IF0% ■'tv.uivMnni'^ ^ME UN'IVERS//, vvlOSANCElfx^ o ^ME UNIVER5-//, o '^Aa3AINn-3\\V .vWSANCElfj> O ''^Aa]AINn3WV ^^^•LIBRARYQ^ ^•f/OJIWDJO"^ ^.OFCAIIFO/?^ ^^Awaaii-^^ '^.!/0jnV3JO ^ ^^.OFCAilF0/?4^ ^ ^yr\s 1^^ i-l ^ F-I'''I\TL'C- ^i ^v^lOSANCflfx^ "^/^aaAiNn 3UV vAlllBRARYQ^ W.^llBRARYQr ^» ^'^m\\m\ ^Aa3AINn-3WV ^OFCAIIFO/?^ ^ o ^(^Aijvyaii-i^"^ ;,OFCALIFOff^ ^ o "^AaJAINfl ]V\V .vWSANCElfj^ W^lllBRARYO/ ^vS^IIBRARYQa '^;..OFCALIFO% ^OFCAI1FO% ^ "z. ^\\E UNIVERS/A nimil, with only the capacity of Intelle£t. — Hr is then not focial but fliuns the Societv of other Men — This the cafe of a folitary Savage lately feen in the Pyrenees — The reafon of this is, th^t it is the ufe of Intellect which Hiakes a man Social. — The next ftep. in the Natural L-.fe, was Herding But (till me--- con- tinued to feed upon the natural fruits of the earth, — though, by the nectffirles of life, they may have been compelled fo kill beafts and catch filh. — i3ut they had no art of Hunting or Fifhing.— In this ftate of the Natural Life is the Ourang Ojcang. — He lives entirely upon the Natural Fruits of the Earth — is how;;ver very big and ftrong. — The moft remarkable people living in the Natural State, are the people of the Ladrone iflmds — A particular account of them given by Martini rre in his Dic- tion iry, taken from a hiftory of them written by Father Gaubin a healthy long lived people— and of great lize and llrength of body, — Another people living in the natural way, are the inhabitants of North Van Diemens Lmd in N.- v HjilanJ Tl-ey are the moft indigent people that have yet been difcovered. The Earth pro- duces no fruit that Man can live upon. — They live therefore upon (hell- fi h, that they gather upon the fands or in creeks and bays at 'low w.iter. — Th.-y hv/^ no ha- bitations but in the trunks of trees, which they holiovv, and matces lirei m them lor a 2 r?afling, CONTENTS. roAfting their nfli. — Though fo Indigent they are a very honeft people. — The peo- ple of Italy, when Safirn came among them, h\ed in the fime manner. — Oi a Man of Norfolk, known by the rame of the Norfolk Mot who was dire£led by Inftinft to live in the natural ^way, without Clothes or Houfe.— The pure Natural Life to be feen only in the Brutes. — They are guided only by Inltinft, not by Intellii^ence ; though they perform wonderful works for the prelervation of the individual and the continuation of the kind.-^If Man had been directed in the fame w. y to provide for the necelTaries of Lite, his inttlk(fl never could have been cultivated, nor Arts and Sciences invented. — The progrefs of his intcUefl in finding out. firft, the moft ne- ceflary Arts of Life, then other Arts and Sciences, and fo advanc'oR in his progrefs towards regaining his former (late. — The wildom and goodnefs of God in this mat- ter to be much admired, p. I. CHAP. IL Of the Civilifed Life of Man— altogether different from his Natural Life. — To be in- qu red, which of them is molt conducive to the well-being of the Animal Life. — The Life of the Brute, who lives the pure Animal Life, compared with the Civilifed Life, and fhown to be more pertedl than the Animal Life of Man in his Civilifed State. The wiidom and goodnefs of God have ufTigned for every Animal the life nioft proper for it The Brute enjoys that life, — and is not liable to any difeafe — not even the plagues produced by a contagion of the air. — The nearer Man comes to this Natural Life, the healthier, and ilronger, and longer-lived he is. — This proved by fa(ft as well as reafon ; particularly by the example of the People of the Ladrone Iflands, — alfo by the example of the Californians, inhabiting the north weft coaft of America ; — and of the Canbbs inhabiting the Antilles in the Weft Indies j — and, laftly, by the example ot the Antedeluvian Patriarchs. — The People of the Pelew Iflands and of New Zealand, though living lei's in the Natural Life, ftill preferve their health. P- »!• CHAP. m. Of the difference betwixt the Natural and Civilifed Life, — The chief articles are Hnufes, Clothes, the ufe ot Fire, Flefli i)iet, and Strong Liquors. — Of Houles : — Tht-y of lattr mvcntion ; the firft covering from the weather being Woods, Koiks, or Caves. Another covering from the weather, ufed by the Rich and Luxurious, viz. Car- ^iagrs. — Clothes a clofTer confinement than Houfes. — Of air, and our intimate con- nedtion with it, as we live in it and by it — Of the air we take in by our Mouth, Nof- trils, and alio by our Skin. — Ot what we throw out by our Skin, that is by perfpi- ration ; — CONTENTS. ration •, — and of the necefllty of taking tint in again, as the Skin muft take in as well as throw out. — To prevent this mifchief the Greeks and Konaus uled the Warni h^th — This became a piece ot luxury amoni» the 'iomacis. — The ligyptians ufc! ^he cold bath, which was better than ihc warm; ind they led it tour times in 24 liours. —Of Anointing ami Frirtion ufed by the Greeks and R m.inb, and the benefit tlit^ie- of. — Of" the air we rake in by our bodies. -^Tli t fhoui Liquors — Bathe and Anoint, yet are fliorter- lived than we, though lefs Oifeafed, — diminished too, in the fize of their bodies — The Greeks and Romans preferved their Health by exerciling naked in the air. — The Romans too, bv Iwimming which was a necelTary part of Educa- tion among them. — The exercifes of the Greeks, in their Palselfras, too violent j and the Diet of the Athlets very unnatural. — Thefe exercifes not pra^ifed by the Egyptians. — Agriculture tlve molt healthy of all occupations. — This pradlifed molt fuccefsfully by the Romans in the early ages of their State. — What they learned by the pra£tice of A'^riculture, of great ufe to them in their military ooerations. — Of the advantage tti^ Ci.ifCcnl Scholar may reap bv learning a better way of living Mian any prafliled in Europe at prefent, from the example of Antient Nations. — Three Antient CONTENTS. Antient Nations mentioned, the Egyptian, the Gr-ecian, and the Roman. — Thr Egyp;ian, the moll Antient and Wilelt Nation in the W-'dd. — Governed by Reli- gion and Philofophy. — Their Nation lalleJ longer than any other Nation, and died at lad a violent death, that i^, by Conqueft. — Their Families alfo lafted longer than the Families of any other Country, — zs it appCcirs from the age of the Family of the High Prleft of Jujjiter in Thebes. — Of their manner of livmg. — They indulged in. the pleafutes of the Table to a certain degree, — did not practice the Athletic exer- cifes of the Greeks, bat preferved their healths by bathing in cold water, — and by violent phyficing every month The reafon they gave for this practice, a good one — Their bathing in cold water may be praftifed by us, and is pradlifed by the People of Oitaheite. — Phyfic too, taken to a certain degree, proper for preferving our Health. — It was fo taken by the People of Rank, in France, 30 y^ars ago — In fo variable a Climate as ours, air and cxercife abfolutely necelTiry. — The viciffitudes of Weather and Climate, the Egyptians faiJ were the chief caufes of Difeafes. — In other Climates, as well as ours, great viciflitudes of Weather, as in the South of France, in Italy, and in South Carolina in North America, — The Health of Man, therefore, not to be preferved in any Country, except Egypt, without exercife in the open air. — Among the Greeks, two Arts relating to the Human Body pradiled, the Gymnaft.c and Medicinal. — The Gymnaftic pradlifeil naked, and not only for pre- ferving Health, but for (ur'ng Difeafes, — Thefc exerciies produced what they called «t/s|'«» ^r t^Je good order 0/ their Bodies. — Tney gave itrength to the Mmd as well as to the Body : — Exercifes fliould be praftifed in Britain as much as they were formerly. — They made the Greeks enjoy very much all the plealures of the Table, particular- ly Drinking The Ro^nan pleafures of the Table confifted chiefly in eating. — Of the Roman exercife. — In the days of A'lgullus thfy had Paiaeltras luch as the Greeks, — praflifed Swimming much more than the Greeks — f his a good exercife both for Health and for Sleep. — Of the Antient IVlanner of living among the Ro- mans.— Their ruftic Tribes lived in the Country, and came to town only occafionaily, — cuUivated their lands with their own hands. — The Romans diltinguiflied from all Civilifed N?tions, of Antient Times, by their application to Agriculture, — and refcm- bling more the Antient Heroes of Greece. — Of the manner of living of the Spartans — quite ditferent from that of the R.omans in the firit ages of their State. — They had lupplied to them not only the neceffiries of life, but the luxuries, by the labour of others — yet by the regulation of their Diet, and by their Athletic lixercifes, the Peo- pl were kept Virtuou?, and their State lalted 700 year.-«. — Of their fuperiority in Ciois fight, even to the Romans j — but the Rouan manner of living, upni the wnole, better, — particularly as to the prefervat'on of Health, and the num hts of Men. — Tiiefe decrealid wonderfully among the Spirtans, but increafed very aiuch among x\\c komaiis. — A reformation of our manner of living may be got, by the ftuuy of the CONTENTS. the manners of the three Nations above mentioned : — Such a rcformatlcn of the greatert conlequencc for the preiifrvation of our People, and p.irticul'.rly ot our No- bility and Gentry.— What is to be imitated of the Egyptian manner of livinr.— Tiie Greek exercifes, though not fo necelTary in War as it is now carried on, are proper for working ofFour full diet, and rej airing the degeneracy oi the Flumaii Body, pro- duced by the change of the fyftcm of War — Of the difule of txerciles in Britain, both among the better fort and the lower. — The ufe of the Greek Regimen, of Bathing, Anointing, and Fridion, abfolutcly nectfTiry for pref.^rving IleaUh — Fridlion, without Anointing, may do harm — Tht^ Greek pr::ftice of being n.-ikeJ, and exercihng naked, contributes very much to Health, — An example ot that in our own times given. — Of the Roman method of joining Military exerciles with Agri- culture — This ought to be praflifed in Britain. — The Farms ought to he Imall i;i Britain as among the Romans, — no great Villages or Towns can make amends fo/ the defolation of the Country by great Farms. — The confequcnce of fmall Farms among the Romans, as to their Population and rhe Recruiting of their Armies. After the manners of Rome were ccnupted by Afiatic wealth, it was the Greek Philofophy that preferved any virtue among them — That Philofophy is wanting among us; and the queftion is, Whetlier it can be fupplied by other things which we have ? — But it is certain that our Heahh cannot be prelerved withuut thofe Arts by which the Antient Nations preferved their Health. — Our hours of E iting, Drink- ing, and Sleeping, ought to be reformed, and pradifed as they were among the Ro- mans.— The reformation of our manner of living, of the utmoft importance for pre- ferving the Health, the Morals, and the Numbers, of the People. — This reiorma- tion may be brought about by the People of rank fetting an example, and making it the Falhion. — Fafhion prevails among the vulgar as well as among the better lort. — Bathing, Friction, and Anointing, might in that way be brought into Fafliion among the lower fort of People, and alfo wearing fewer Clothes, and not (waddling and wrapping up their Children. — Of the Diet of the lower fort of People, and particu- larly of their Drinking Spirits — That ought to be abolifhed altogether, or at leafl very much reftraincd. — Of the o-vo-jitix in Sparta, by which the Diet of the Peoplj was regulated. — Something of that kind praiStifed aboard our Ships of War The efFe£t of it remarkably feen in Captain Cook's Voyages, where, if the Men had been allowed to live as they would have chofen to do, they never would have brought home the Ship.— If fuch regulation of Diet was made general in Britain, what a fav- ing there would be of Men ? — Thefe regulations the more neceflary, that the Peo« pit are employed in Arts the moft deftru6live of Men ; — and not only they, but their Children. — This makes the conlumption of Children wonderful. p. 23. BOOK CONTENTS. BOOK II. Of the Difference of the Minds of Men in the Natural and Civllifed States. CHAP. I. In the preceding Book, the difference is (hown betwixt the' Natural and Civilifed Life, wi.'h re.;ds, — md ihe :. U tie:^ they cxtrc fed upon the Indians,— One horrible inltance of tucrir cru it) of which L.iS Cafas »vas an eye witnefs —The Lidians put the .. leaves to death to -i n.! th^-'le truciiie*-.— rhe Spaniards, having depopulatec! Hiip.: lola in this way, bro ;?ht otUt.T Indiatis mto it, of whom they made (laves. — Tl)py realon ot vhe S aniard' d'C- troying, in America, i'o many more than any other Conquerors we read of in liif. tory was, that their motive was avarice^ the mo:t cruel and infatiable of all paflions. — Tnere can be no doubc, therefore, of the truth of what our Scripture tells us, That the Love of Money is the root of all evil. — It makes Civilifed Men more bar- barous than any Savages. — The Spaniards employed above 80,000 Indians to work in their Mines. — They faid they were no better than Brutes, and that they could not make Ghrillians of them. — The avarice of the Spaniards made them forre the Indians to dive for Pearls— which confumed prodigious numbers of them. — Difeafes which the Spaniards introduced among them, luch as the fmall-pox, alfo deitroyed great numbers of them. — All thefe things confidered. Las Cafas has not fo much exceeded the truth as Charlevoix has fallen Ihort of it. — Rejfons why the Author has infilled fo much upon this dclblation of the Earth by the Spaniards. — Other ex- amples of War produced oy Money — kW Wars, fince the Peace of Utrecht, in which Britain was engagc;d, derived from that fource. — The American War in par- ticular;— which was more deftruclivc of Men and Money than any other War on record. — Computation of the lofs ol Men and th'.- expence of Mor.ey occafioned by it. — War fliould be avoided in a Trading and Manufafluring Nation fuch as Britain. — Great praife of our Minift^r, that W. is at pains to avoid War by preparing for it j —two examples given of this — The prefent War a necefiary W-r, being defenfivej in which v.'e have every thin^ at 'lake rl'.at is valuable - It is the common caufe o( Europe, in which, if we had not joined with other Powers, our conduft would have been both diflionourable and impolitic. p, ro, C H A P IL Wealth Is to be acquired by Tride and Manuf;ie, no Salary or Perquifites annexed to the higheil Offices.— Arillotle in his Polity fays, that there is great danger from making offices lucrative. — The reafon jlain. — Ava- rice will excite Men to contend and flrive for them — Hei.ce, F.scSlion, Sedition, and fometia>es Civil War. — Of the influence of Wealth in Government j — it was the ruin of the Heroic Governments of Greece, — and of every Government deftroyed by internal diforders. — The Antient Qreeks lived upon the natural fruits of the Earth, particularly the Malloiu-s and y^/)/^;^^.— Lycurgus's wiidom in forbidding the ufe of Gold and Silver coin in Sparta, and only ptrmitting Iron valued by weight.— After all, however, Wealth, as the Oracle preji(5led, rumed Sparta —Lj Rome a diflinclion of Poor and Rich. — This dilbndtion the fource of the ruin of every State from the time that the Poor get a fhare of the Government — Praile of the Govern- ment of Antient Egypt.— It guarded againft this evil j and accordingly tafted much longer than any other Government we read of, and at lall fed by external violence. X l-.e conqueft of Egypt by the Ptrfians, a people much nearer to the Natural State, and therefore poflefled of more Natural Strength — The fate of ail Civilifed Nations, to be conquered by Nations nearer to the Natural State. p. 63. C H A P. III. Proved that the acquiwtion of Wealth produces great mifchief. — To be inquired, Whe* tlier the enjoyment of it does not make up-fbr that mifchief. — The opiniori of Ho- mer,., CONTENTS. nier, that M^n was the moft miferable of all Animals. — Qusftlon, Whether he be lefs miferable now, when he has To much more money, than in the days of Homer ? — God has afli4ned for every Animal an oeconomy and manner of life, that gives him all the happinefs his nature is capable of. — Man, therefore, in his natural ftate, is as happy as other Animals in that ftate — The Queftion then is, Whether Money has made him happier in the Civilifed Stue ? — The enjoyment of Money produces as much evil as the acqu:fition of it. — Wealth produces Luxury and Vanity, and af- fords many temptations, that are not to be refifted by a weak intelledl, fuch as that of Man. — Of the divifion of Men, introduced by Wealth, into thofe who live in Vanity and Luxury, and thofe who minifter to that Vanity and Luxury. — The effeft of Wealth upon the Rich, is to make them more difeafed and more miferable — and upon the Poor, to make them ftill poorer. — This paradox explained, by fhowing that Wealth raifes the price of the neccfTaries of life, and prompts the Poor to imi- tate the Luxury and Vanity of the Rich. — The drii^king of Tea an example of this. — Of the poverty of Manufacturers though their wages be high. — The Poor's rate of England increafes with the wealth of a Nation. — Wealth makes the Rich poor — and confequently avaritious. — The confequence of Luxury and Avarice being joined together in the great Men of a State — The conlpiracy of Cataline, a remarkable in- ftance of that. — Of the effects of Wealth in England — more confpicuous than in any Country in England, as the Wealth is greater. — More Crimes, more Vices, and more Indigence, in England, than in any other Country. — Thefe produce a Colony of Convidts to Botany Bay. — A particular account of that Colony given. — Indigence the fource of almofl all the Crimes in England. — The diftin^ion of the Luxurious and Indolent, and of thofe that minillered to their Luxury and Indolence, not known among the Greeks in the Heroic age. — A particular account of their domeftic oeco- nomy.— The fame was the cafe among the Romans in the earlv ages of their State. — Men, in thefe early ages, being nearer the natural ftate, lived in a more naf ral way, and therefore were happier than in later times. — In the n-^xt Book an inq'i-ry. Whether lome means might not be contrived to alleviate thefe mifchiefs of Civi' So- ciety, p. 70. BOOK III. Of the Advantages Derived from Civil Society, and how its Ills may be Alleviated. CHAP. I. Reafon why Man in the Natural State is happier than in the Civilifed. — Li the firft he is governed by lnftin6t.-«-in the lad by his own inteiligei.ee. — Hia wants and defircs b 2 few CONTENTS. i'ew in the Natural State, — in the Civilifed State innumerable, — particularly when money furniflies the means of gratifying them. — In the CiviUfed State moft unnatu- ral uiflions ariie. — Inftance of this in the paffion of males for males. — This a perver- fion of a natural and necefT.iry p.iflion, — fuppofed to have been invented in Greece — much praclU'ed in Thebes, particularly by its Sacred Band. — It went from Greece to Rome — was much refined there, particularly by the Emperor Heliogabalus. — Not unknown in Modern times. — Still pra£tifed in Italy, — in Ruflia, and even anong the barbarians of Kamfliatka. — The confequence of Vices in the Civilifed Life, is Dif- cafes. — The number of thele at prefent in Europe not known. — In Pliny the elder's time they were reckoned 300. — They muft be now much increafed as many have been imported. — In England more Difeafes than in moft other parts of Europe, be- caufe more Wealth. — We have hardly names, much lefs cures for them. — Of the prevalence of Coniumption- among us. — The death of Children by this difeafe muft arife from the weaknelTes of Parents. — To the fame caufe is to be attributed the great mortality of Children in great Towns, fuch as London, — where it is computed, that not a half of thofe that are born live to be two years old. — Confumption not un- known to the Antienfs; — but not near fo fatal. — This a proof that their manner of Life was more Natural than ours. p. 83. CHAP. IL Civil Society not necefTarily produftive of mifchief; — on the contrary, if properly ma- naged, productive of the greateft good. — From Civil Society we derive Arts, Scien- ces, Religion, and Philofophy. — Without Arts and Sciences Men have the fenfe of what Is beautiful and becoming. — But the corruption of the beft things becomes the worrt. — Arts, therefore, of Pleafure and Luxury, and even of moft unnatural Plea- fures, were produced in procefs of time — i his corruption takes place when Wealth has got among Men, — and only to be prevented by a Government of Religion and Philolophy, like thofe of Egypt and Sparta. — No fuch Government now to be found. A private Man may ftill make himlelf happy by Religion and Philofophy, — This the cafe of the Philofophers of Alexandria under the worfl: of Governments, that of the Saracens, — the declared enemies too of all learning. — For the lludy of Religion and Philofophy Icifure necefTary : — This the opinion of Solomon, Plato, and Arifto- tle — Leifure only in the Civilifed Life. — The defire of Knowledge pecuUar to that Liff. — Difference of the progrefs towards Civility, in the New Zealanders and the People of the Pelew Iflanda : — The former without curiofity of any kind j the later moft derirou<^ of knowledge. — The firft Phihfophers admired the Heavens ; and, ac- cordingly, the firft we read of, were Natural Philofophers. — Inquiries after mind fuccecued. — for the enjoyment of leifure, Money neceffary, — alfo to know how to employ CONTENTS. employ lelfure. — -Ennui a fore difeafo. oeing a Llifeafe of ili? mlnH. — Tt<; eF £ls on the Rich, who have not the knowl .ge of employing thtir leiiure. — . >' .iofophcr, with a competent fortune, will enjoy hi^ leiiure more perfcfily than ihe Gymno'o- ph!<^? of India, who had thfr food to feek. — The more leifure a Man hjs, the more need has he of occu;)at on — This either Oi 13ody or Mind. — Occupation of th.* Body neceflary for Heihh. — ')f the emplovment -^f ^ur iv:\i F^^r-nts in Paradife. — C)i the occupation of Firming, — p .rticulariy in the manntr th^r Horace Farmed. — Of the pleafures of Walking and Riding, — the e.xercileb of the Aiitient Athkts too violent for any other ptrfons. p. 89. CHAP. IIL Difference betwixt Antient and Modern Philofophy. — Certainty of our knowledge of Mind from Conkioulnefb. — Uncert-'i.led \n.\ generj>lze:l.Si\z\ iJei? of ohjcifli ot fenfe do nor give the greateft Plealaro. — It is the iJeas of Luelligeace, of iup.-rior Intelligencps, — of the Supreme — and of the firil principles of things. — Thefe form an intdle.ftual World in our Minds ; to live in which is our greateil Ilappinefs.— Of the difference b&twixt this Happinefs and that of the practice of the Ethical Vir- tues.— vJany things required for the practice of the Ethical Virtues, which the con- templative life does not need. — The contemplative Piiilofopher vaay be faiJ to liv^ in another World — and that in reipeit his Happinefs comes the neareft to the Divine. —Example ot fuch a life in Piotinus the Alexandrian Philofopher. — One advantage which a Man, who lives with himfelf, has, is th^J he is fupcrior to common opinion. p. 113. CHAP. vir. Heaiuy is a perfeAion of our Intelleaken one. — It is fo univerfal, that it direifls Men iu the praftice of the moft trifling things, fuch as Drefs.— This proved in the example of Julius Cxlar. — It is to be oblerved in a certain degree, even in fome Brute Ani- mals, fuch as the Horfe The Author's apology for laying fo much upon the fub- je6t of the Beautiful in this Volume, when he had faid fo much of it iu a preceding. It is a fu'ij £t treated of by no Modern Phiiofopher, except Mr Payley j wh'jreas the Antient Philofophy is full of it, — particularly that of the Stoics. p. 119. CHAP. viir. After Virtue, Morals in general to be confidered. — Upon them depends the rlappinefs of Civil bociety — I he Greeks confidered Mtjrals and Politics as fo clofeiy connedl- ed, that ihcy beftowed upon both the term Political^ as both applied to Political Socie- fy^ Pythagoras, the firlt who inquired concerning Virtue. — he explained it by num- bers, Socrates, more fuccefsful in his inquiries after Virtue, — He held all Virtue to be Science. — His Syftem alio defective. — He made it a Theoretical Science j whereas it is a Pradtical Art. — Plato made great improvements upon his Mafler Socrates ; — but erred by mixing Metaphyfics with Morals. — Other defe(fts in Plato's DofVrme of Morals. Ariftotlc's excellence in this branch of Philoiophy. — Three works of his upon this fubje#y ; — .he contemplation of which, according to the Stoics, is man's only good, — and is what gives delight to the Intelleft. — The Pains and Pleafures of IntellcJl, The warmth of Clothes, Houles, and Firct. C.utlc, that run out Summer and Winter, lefs prolific than thofe that are Houled. Why the Orang Outang does not Increafe much accounted for. — 2^, The want of Vice and 'Difeafc in the firft ages of Civility, and of the unhealthy occupations which it in- vents CONTENTS. vents and introduces. — Frequent Migrations of Nations in Antient times, the confe- quence of the great increafe of Men in the firft: ages of Civility. — Account of feme of thefe Migrations — from Egypt — from Greece to Italy — from Rome — from Gaul into Italy, Greece, and AGa Mmor — Of the Migration of the Cimbers and Teu- tons into luly, — and of the Goths, Vandals, Sec. into the Roman Empire — All thele Migrations occafioned by want of fubllftence at home. — Colonies fent out for the lame realon. — The only exception to this, the cafe of the Helvetii as defcribed by Julius Caefar : — Their conduct accounted for. — The multiplication of Men, a grievance in the firll ages of Civility. — Cure for this grievance in Crete — praftifcd alfo at Thebes. — Though more numerous in the firft ages of Civility than in the Natural State, Men were not then Bigger and Stronger. — The cafe of Giants, fuch as the Sons of Anak, a peculiarity of a few Families, who had lived longer in the Natural State. — Men, in the firft ages of Civility, Stronger, Bigger, and Longer Lived than thofe of latter times. — This accounts for the Superior Size of Men in the Heroic age of Greece. — ^Of the true Heroic age of a Nation. — Vice and Difeafe the ' NaturaTconfequcnces of Society as it grows old. — Thele render the progeny worfc and lefs abundant. — The numbers of men depend upon Health, Morals, and Occu- pation.— The bad effedls upon Health and Morals by Vice, Difeafe, and Unwhole- I'ome Occupations. — Horace's opinion of the gradual decline of the Species in Civil Society. — ImpolHble, by the nature of things, that Man can fubfift long in that State. p. 242. CHAP. iir. In the pure Natural State the multiplication of the Species fmall. — In the Domcftic State the multiplication great. — Vices and Difeafes, Wars and Conquefts, in the ad- vanced Stages of Society, produce great deftru6lion of Men. — To be inquired, Whe- ther, in fuch Stages, the Species multiplies or decreafes .'' — Already proved that Man falls oft' in Size and Strength. — He muft, therefore, alfo be ftiorter lived, and decreafe in numbers. — This to be proved by Fa(Sts. — \Ji^ From the State of Man be- fore the coming of our Saviour. — ^dl^^ From the State of Man at his coming. — And, 3^/)!, From his State lince that time. — Of the State of the Jewilh Nation in Antient Times. — f heir increafe wonderlul both in Egypt and Canaan. — The num- ber of Men in Canaan, when conquered by the Ifraelites, alfo very great. — Of the number of People in Egypt. — In the reign of Amalis it contained 20,000 Cities ; and after being conquered by the Perfians and Macedonians, it had no lefs than 25,000 Cities. — The Populoufnefs of Antient Egypt, one of the caufes of the ex >e- ditions of Oiiris and Sefoftris, — whofe Armies amounted to Millions of Men, — Of the CONTENTS. the Population of the Aflyrian Empire. — Ninus invaded Ba£lriana with an Army of 1,700,000 foot, 210,000 horfe, and 10,600 chariots; Semiramis, with an Army of 3,000,000 foot, 500,000 horfe, and 100,000 chariots. — Of the Armies of Darius and Xerxes, — Phe number of Dionyfius of Syracufe's Army, and of that of the Ro- mans when invaded by Hannibal. — Of the Population of the Earth at our Saviour's coming ; — not fo great as in more Anticnt Times. — Egypt and Greece then depo- pulated.— The Roman Empire, though the moft extenfive of any in territory, had produced great depopulation by their Conq^uefts, Vices, and Difeafes. — Italy irfelf a delart compared to what it was in former times. — Antient Larium very populous. — Antient States, iuch as the Volfci, the Equi, &c. annihilated. — Importation of 28 Colonies by Auguftus, and of 300 000 Sarmatians by Conftantine, neccflary. — — Sicily alfo greatly depopulated. — The deftrudtion of People in Gaul, by Juli- us Caefar, very great —The Conquefts of the Romans tended to depopulate. — So do all great Empires — -The Earth, therefore, more populous before the firft great: Empire, the Aflyrian — Fne profligate Lives of the Roman Emperors fpread defo- lation over the whole Empire. — Neceflity of the appearance of Jefus Chrift at this deiperate State of Mankind, p. 25 »'. CHAP. IV. Of the State of Man, with refpedl to Population, fince the coming of Chrift. — Dif- eafes much increafed in number: — Of the Small-Pox, Great-l'(^x, and IVIeaflcs. — Vices alfo much increaled, — inilance of thif. in Spirit Drinking — a moft deftrudlive Vice. — North America aimoft Depopulated by it and the Small-Pox. — Of the De- population of Italy in later timeS, compared with Antient Italy, — the number of Ci- ties much fewer. — Many Cities deftroyed by the Romans — r\nd great Depopulation produced by their Conquefis — The ''epopulation compSfte.; by the ravages of the Goths and other barbarous Nations. — Of the Population of Antient Latium — many Colonies fent out from Rome. — Greece much Depopulated fince the days of Pau- fanias. — The Author informed of its prefent (late by a late traveller. — Afia very populous in antient times : — Its WeAern Kin-doms now bur thinly peopled : — Great part of Tartary a dcfart, according to Mr Bell of Antermoney : — Great decreafe of the numbers of men in India ; — this occafioned by the conquefts of Gcnchis Chan, Tamerlane, Kouli Chan, and the Britifh. — China twice conquered by the Tartars; — highly probable, therefore, that its numbers are diminilhed ; — and alfo thofc of Japan : — ^Prudence of thofe Countries in avoiding much intercourle with Eurofacin'?. — South America and the Weft Indies dreadfully Depopulated by the Spani.utis ; — and North Amer'ca by the Britifli. p. 264. d C II A V. CONTENTS. CHAP. V. Cf the Population of Spain In antient and modern times: — In Cicero's time very great; — but now, notwitbftanding the addition of Goths, Vandals, Heruli, and IVloors, its Population very fmall. — France fuppofed about 30 years ago, when the Author was there, to have decreafed 2 millions fince the days of Lewis XIV. — The Author par- ticularly informed about the thinncfs of the Population of France at that time, and of the caufes of it. — Not likely that their numbers are of late increafed. p. 270. C H A P. VI. Of the Population of Britain. — Population one of the three great Articles of the Poli- tical Syftem. — i/?, the Population of England confidered j not fo great now as when Julius Caefar was in the Ifland : — According to him England was very Populous, and even more Populous than Gaul. — Our great towns, no proof of great Population : —They, on the contrary, confume great numbers of people. — Little knowledge of the ftate of Population during the Saxon Government. — Reafons for concluding, that after the Norman conqueft, the Population was greater than at prefent : — The feudal fyftem introduced by it, favourable to Population —Our wars, trade, and ma- nufadlures, attended with great wafte of men. — An inquiry, therefore, into the Po- pulation of England at prefent, and whether it be increasing or decreafing, a quertion of the greateft political importance: — Oppofite opinions on this point maintained by Mr Howlet and Dr Price. — Mr Howlet contends, that we have doubled our num- bers fince 1740 i — arguments againft this opinion :^--Dr Price holds, that ever fince the revolution in i(588, we have been decreafing in numbers : — Probable that the Dodtor is in the right, from the caufes he affijns. — Enumeration of thefe. p. 273. CHAP. VIL Impofllble to dlfcover, but by an aclual numeration of the people, whether they are at prefent increafing or diminilhing in numbers. — No Cenfus in Britain : — Not likely that fuch a meafure would fhow that we are at prefent on the incrcafe, like the kingdoms of Sweden and Naples, which have, of late, been adlually numbered. — The queftion only to be anfwered by an inveftlgation into its caufes ; — advantages of this mode of inquiry, that if we are decreafing in numbers we Ihall difcover a re- medy for the evil.— Numbers of a people depend upoTi their morals, health, and oc- cupations.— CONTENTS. cupatlons.— Much corruption of morals in England :— Without good morals, no people can be numerous : — Proof of the degeneracy of Morals in Britain from our colonies of convids at Botany Bay : — Our crimes proceed not from bad natural dif- pofitions, but are the confequejice of our wealth : — Of the wealth of the people of England. — No country, in the world, where there is more difeafe — Of the fatal ef- fects of the confumption : — Little known to the antients. — Great mortality of our children, particularly in London : — No fuch mortality in antient times, as we learn from the writings of Mofes, Homer, and Pliny. — Of the occupations of men in En- gland ; all arts praflifed there; — many of thefe very hurtful to health : — Inftanccs of thefe in mining and fmelting, glafs making, gilding, and pin making.— Our great- eft confumption of men, by manufactures and foreign trade. — Better to be employed in agriculture, the moft healthy of all occupations. — Bad confequences at prefent of the negledt of agriculture. — No argument to be drawn from the increafe ot great towns.— VVifdom of Queen Elifabeth and her miniftcrs, who deliberated about ref- training the growth of London. . p. 280. CHAP. VII. The inhabitants of the country confift of three orders of men ; — The nobility and gentry ; the farmers and the cottagers.— Land formerly divided among a great number of nobility and gentry, but now in the hands of a few great proprietors : — In fome countries hardly an eftate of 500 /, per annum. — The farmers now as much diminiflied in number, from the increafe of farms ; — of which there are forae in England of 3000 /. rent. — The Author, from his frequent journies to London, on horleback, qualified to judge of the number and fize of farms. — Inftance of a fingle houfe in a parifh. — Of the number of cottagers in England ; — their great utility : —They are the brted of fervants, labourers, mechanics, tradefmen, foldiers, and failors : — Few cottages to be feen in England ; — and thefe confined to hamlets ; — proof of cottages bemg once more frequent. — The numbers of England infuffi- cient to the demand of trade, manufadtures, and war : — A ftatute of population, like thai of Henry the Vll. neceflary. — Small farms conducive to population ; ex- emplified in the original fize of the Roman iirms of two Jiigera. — The great quan- tity of pafiure ground in E'igland which is ncceflTary for feeding cattle, to fupply the immenfe conlumption of flclh, muft prevent the increafe of the Population of that kingdom, even were farms le(is. — Another caufe, the quantity of ground employed in raifing barley for diftillation ; — A third caufe, the keeping fo many horfcs for ru- ral occupations, which might be better performed by oxen ; and alfo for luxury, vanity, and indolence. — Thefe three caulcs tonfiJc.-cd. — A fourth, the great quan- tity of wafte lauds and commons.—Conclufion, that the number of inhabitants muft be diminifhing. ' p. 201 CHAP. CONTENTS. CHAP. VIII. TThe population of Scotland confidered : — Much, on this fubje^l, to be learned from Sir John Sinclair's Statiftical Account oj Scotland. — 1 he work not yet complete : — It comprehends the numbers of people in the towns as well as in the country. — Towns, of late, much increafed : — But thefe diminifh the numbers in the country — Uncer- tam whether the numbers in the country are increafed : — They are diminifhed in the parifh of Fordoun fince 1771. — For a general view of the population of Scot- land, its inhabitants muft be confidered feparately, as landholders, farmers, and cot- tagers i — The landholders much decrealed. — The great eftates, in antient times, no objection to this, as they were poflefTcd by vaflals : — Of vafTals was compofed the army of 20,oco horfe, that invaded England in Robert Bruce's time, under the Earls ■of Douglas and Murray : — Thefe vaflals had their lands pofl^efl'ed by farmers and cottagers. To the military vaflals (ucceeded fcuers and wadfetters : — But thefe now all bought up or redeemed. — The landholders of fuperior rank, our nobility, and oentry, alfo much diminifhcd : — Not much above a half of our nobility, at the Union exifting ; — and our gentry very much decre^fed by extinfkion of families, by female fccceflion, and by fales of their eftates to great proprietors : — Proof of this from Ragman's roll.^ — ^The extinction of men of antient families not to be repaired : The King may make a man noble, but he cannot make him a gentleman. — ihe lofs of men of family not to be repaired by any wealth :— They were the govern- ing men in Scotland in antient times :— So much diminiflied of late, that if :hey continue to diminifh, the King will not get ofliccrs from among them for his fleet and army.— The farmers in Scotland much decreafed in number :— Formerly few farms exceeding 20 1. of rent ; now farms of 300 1. of 500 1. and even of looo 1 — Sheep farms, of great extent, pofl"efl:ed by one tenant, which formerly employed 35 families -—Cottagers ought to be much more numerous than both the landholders or dParmers. In Scotland cottagers, formerly very numerous j— were almoft the only farm iervants : Now they are difmifTed from moft farms, and the work performed by unmarried houfe-fervants :— Inftance the defolation of one farm by this method. I'he fcarclty of the fervants and their high wages, are in part tending to correa: this abufe. Cafe of a farm of the Author's, where only a boy is kept in the houfe; and, though the tenant does not pay above 30 1. of rent, there are 13 families of cottagers: Another tenant, who pofl^efles only 8 acres of arable land, keeps 3 fami- lies of cottagers :— A fmall village of the Author's poflieflfed by 7 tenants, who oc- cupy 3 acres a piece. — Confequences of fuch great population ; — 200 Individuals in a traft of eround of the Author's not paying 100 1. a year.— State of the Author's own CONTENTS. own farm as to population ; — cultivated by one utmiarried fervant and a boy In the houfe, and by 27 cottagers and fmall tenants. — Advantages rel'u!ting from the popu- lation of a country. — Many great improvers depopulate their eftates. — Praife of Mr Barclay of Urie : — An account of his improvements, and of the benefits he has thereby conferred on the county of Kincardine. — Cottagers, though much diminifh- ed in Scotland, ftill more fo in England. — The number of houfe iervants, kept by the rich and great, multiply little :— Very different among the antitnt Romans ; and, in former times, in Great Britain. — Service Itill an mheritance in fonv. p^rts of the Highlands of Scotland. — Our (landing armies contribute nothmg to popuUtion.— . Population a moft material part of the pohtical fyftem, and, therefore, much miill- ed on. — Proof, from our prefent exertions by fea and land, that our po.ul.stion is very confidcrable : — It might be increafed by proper means. — Our lituatiou. with refpecl to population and finance, much better than that of France : — Favourable inference from thence deduced. p. 299. C H A P. IX. The continual decreafe of the numbers of men, from the earlieft times, mufl: end in their extindion. — The extindion of particular families proved : — And nations, be- ing compofed of families, muft end with them. — Inftances of nations being extin- guifhed ; fuch as many nations that were, of old, in Italy, and fuch as the antient Egyptian nation. — The unnatural life of man in the civilized (late, and the vices and difeales it produces, the caufe of this extindlion : — The (ilence of antient authors on this fubjeft accounted for : — Some of them maintained that a renovation of things was to take place — Uncertain, if a calculation of the time of the extinftion of the fpecies can be made. — An end of this fcene of things, a dodlnne of Chridianity j and the chief end of the mifEon of Jelus Chrift to reveal it to men, and to perfuade them to prepare for the world to come : — Proof of this from Scripture. — Agreement of hiftory with revelation — Our prefent mifery not fo much the (liortnefs of our lives as the length of our deaths. — Revealed to us, that a lingering death of the fpe- cies is to be prevented by fome convulfion in nature. — No neceffity for fuppofing the convulfion general :— It may happen in different countries at different times ;— In- flances of this from antient and modern hiftory — The goodnefs of God reconciled with the mifery of man in civiUty.-— An end of man as well as of his woiks. — Con- clufion of this volume, , o. -^i^. ERRATA. Page 67. 1. 19. for Solon read Lycurgus. Ibid. 1. 23. Kings Kingdoms, 84. Note * Helia Gabalus. 85. Same midake. 184. 1. 12. Thing Think, 309* 1. 16. Propofitioa Thing. A N T I E N T METAPHYSICS. BOOK L Comparifon of the Natural and Civilifed States of Man, with Refped to his Body and Animal Life. C H A P. L The progrefs of Man from the Natural Lfe to the Civilifed^ the great* efl that he has undergone, — The dlffcrcncey therefore^ betwixt thofe two Lives to be carefully attended to, — A progrefs of Man in the Natural State as ivell as in the Civilifed. — At frf he is a mere Animal^ with only the capacity of Intelled, — He is then not facial^ but f duns the Society of other Men, '^T his the cafe of a folitary Sa- vage lately feen in the Pyrenees, — The reafon of this is, that it is the lfe of IntelleEi which makes a man Social. — The next fep in the Natural Life, was Herding, — But fill men continued to feed upon the natural fruits of the earth,— though, by the neccffitics of life, they may have been compelled to kill beafs and catch ffh, — But they had no art of Hunting or Fifiing. — In this fate of the Natural Life is the Ourang Outaug, — He lives entirely upon the Natural Fruits of Vol. V. A the ^ ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book L the "Earth --is however very big and Jlrong, — The mojl remarkable . people living in the Natural State^ are the people of the Ladrone JJlands, — A particular account of them given by Mar tinier re in his Dictionary ^ taken from a h'fory of them -written by Father Gaubien "—a healthy long lived people-^and of great fi%e and frength of body. — Another people living in the natural ivay. are the inhabi- tants of North Van Dicmens Land in New Holland. — They are the mofl indigent people that have yet been dfcuvered. — The Earth pro^ duces no fruit that Man can live upon, — They live therefore upon fjdl-ffi^ that they gather upon the /ands or in creeks and bays at low water. — They have no habitations but in the trunks of trees ^ which they hollow.^ and make fires in them for roafing their fifh. — Though fo indigent^ they are a very honeft people. — The peo^ pie of Italy ^ ".vhen Saturn came among theni^ lived in the fame man- ner.— Of a Man of Norfolk., known by the name of the Norfolk Idiot, W)ho was dire&ed by Infiintl to live in the natural -way., without Clothes or Houfe. — The pure Natural Life to be fcen only ifr the Brutes. — They are guided only by hiflinSi^ not by Intelligence ; though they perform wonderful works for the prefervation of the individual and the continuation of the kind. — If Man had been di- redfed in the fame way to provide for the neceffaries of Life .^ his in- telle ^ never could have been cultivated, nor Arts and Sciences i?r- vented. — The pro^refs of his intelleB in finding out, firfi., the mofi neceffary Arts of Life., then other Arts and Sciences., and fo advanc- ing in his progrefs toivards regaining his. former fiate. — The wi/dom and good nefs of God in this matter to be much admired, Ihave fald a great deal of the natural (late of man, enough, I hope, to convince my readers that it did once exift, and that it was very- different from a life of civility and arts. It is the greateft change that man has undergone in this life, and therefore the difference be- twixt it and the ftate of nature ought to be carefully attended to. As Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. j As there is a progreffion of man in all the ftates in which he has exifted, fo there is alfo a progreffion in his natural ftate as well as his civilifed. He was at firft a quadruped, as I think, I have prov- ed very clearly in the preceding volume * : And if there were any doubt in the matter, the progrefs from the quadruped to the biped, which is yet to be feen among fome people, who, having been but lately erected, go ftill at times upon all four, puts the matter out of all doubt f. This firft ftate of man I call the animal Hate; for, in that ftate, I confider him as a mere animal, with only the capaciiy of intelled:, but not the ufe of it. And, in that ftate, he does not appear to be a gregarious or focial animal, but of that clafs of ani- mals, who do not affociate, and whom we call wild, AnJ, accor- dingly, all men that have been difcovered in that ftate, were found folitary: And particularly one of them, who was found in the Py- renees, as late as 1774, appeared to fhun all communication with men, and fled from thofe who wanted to lay hold of him ; and was fo fvvift of foot, that even their dogs could not come up with him J. It appears, therefore, that it is only the ufe of intelled, which makes man focial ; and it is natural that it fhould be fo, as he is not ac- tually a man till he has the exercife of that faculty. But, when he has got that, he is by nature prompted to affociate with his fellow creatures, by which only he could improve his intelled:, and fo make fome progrefs, in this life, towards recovering from his fallen ftate. The next ftep of man's progrefs is to the herding life§, when he has got fo much of the ufe of intelledl as direcSts him to affociate wuth creatures of his own fpecies %. But ftill, I fay, he is in the A 2 natural * See Vol. IV. p. 21. and the paflages there referred to. f Ibid. p. 31. :j: See Vol. III. of this work, p. 46. and the Annual Reg'iA^er for 1778. § See what I have faid of the progrefs of man from the folitary flate to the gregari- ous, p. 62. of the preceding volume. ^ See with refpcdl to the herding (late, ibid. ^ ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book I. natural flate ; for he has not the ufe of clothes, houfes, fire, nor of any ftrong liquor; And though the neceffities of life may oblige him to kill fifh or terreftrial animals, yet he has no art of fifhing or hunting. His chief food was the natural fruits of the earth, fuch as. herbs and roots ; for he did not at firft climb trees in order to eat their fruit. In this way the Arcadians fed, till they were taught, by their leader Pelafgus, to feed on beech mart. This was a tradition among the Pelafgi, the moft antient people of Greece, which Pau- fanias has preierved to us *. It is a ftep in the human progrefs, the memory of which only appears to have been preferved among thofe very anrient people of Greece : And Peter the Wild Boy, while he was a quadruped in the woods of Hanover, fed as the Arcadians did before they were taught to eat beech maft'|"' In this ftage of the natural life is the Ourang Outang, who, though he affociates and herds with his fellow creatures, feeds altogether upon the natural fruits of the earth: And though he may have the uic of fire, hemuil have learned it from fome civilifed nation in his neighbourhood. But he has not yet learned the ufe of language. Though his diet, being altogether upon vegetables, we ihould think a very poor diet, yet he appears to enjoy both health and ftrengtii. There is a difference in his fize, as well as among civilifed nations; for fome of them are of very fmall fize, fuch as thofe they call Chim^ penza's, who are only about five or fix feet when they are eredted : Whereas the Pongos, or Impongos, are of ver)^ great fize, betwixt fcven and nine feet high, and prodigioufly ftrong f . The ■* Lib. 8. clmp. I. f See what I have further fald upon this fubje^l in the preceding volume, p. ^9' where I have quoted Diodorus Siculus, who gives an account of a people in Ethiopia, who hvcd entirely upon the roots of reeds that grew in the marlhes. And he mentions .^^ipther people, in the fame country, whom he calls 'yA»^;ty,<, that is ivood-caters^ who lived upon the fmall branches of trees, whidi they ate. — Lib. 3. cap. 24, t Vol. IV. of this work, p. 51. Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. f^ ...The mod remarkable nation, in this ftate, were the people of the Ladrone Iflands, or the Marianne Iflands, as the French call them; who, before they were difccvered by the Spaniards, had not the ufe- of firei and, who, when they hrft law it, fled from it as from a devouring monfter. Their only food was fuch herb, as their ifland afforded, and wl.at fifh they could catch ; but they ate no fle;h, nor indeed were there any beaft^ i^^.ti^eir iflands that they could eat, ex- cept fome bird3 refeml)ling turkeys but, inftead of killing and eat- W them they tamed them and taught them to Ipeak. '1 hey were, kowever,' of great fize and great ftreugth of body, being about ieven foot high, and of wonderful agility as well as llrength. They had the ufe'^of language; and had a race of uobles among them, to whom they paid a wonderful refped, and by whom they appear to have been governed, though there was nothing like an eftablifhed form of government among them; nor had they the, leaft idea of religion, tilldie Jefuits came among them, who made Chriftians of fome of them, but with fo much difficulty and danger, thiu no l^fs than ten miffionaries fuffered martyrdom in the caufe *. They were very healthy; and the few difeafes they had, they had learned to cure by fome herbs they found in the country. They commonly lived to the ao-e of loo. This account, of fo extraordinary people, Martinierre,. in his Diaionary, tells us, he took from Father Gaubienf, a Jefuit; who having been, no doubt, in thofe iflands, and I fuppofe em- ployed in converting the people, mufl have been very well mformed. concerning them. I will mention only one other people, more (I think) in the na- tural ftate, than any 1 have yet mentioned i but to whom nature is more * See an account of this people in Churchill's colkaion of voyages, volume iv: But a much more full and accurate account of them, is to be found ui a French Hiftorical, Geographical, and Critical, Diaionary, by Martinierre, volume vii. p. 123. and foliowuig. •>- Ibidem. f ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book I. more a ftepmother, than to any other people we hear of. It is the people of Dicmens Land in the northern part of New Holland, of whom we have a very particular account §-om Dampier. They are the people who live with lefs affiftance from nature or art, than any other people we have heard of. The land where they live produces nothing which men can live upon, nor any bird or beaft, which they can catch for food] for they are wholly unprovided with inftru- ments for that purpofe, not having the ufe of weapons of any kind. The fea they have not the ufe of by navigation, for they have not canoes, nor by fifhing with nets or lines. Neither do they dive and take them with their hands, like the people of the country from whence the Wild Girl came. But they catch fifh by making dykes acrofs bays or inlets of the fea, over which the fea, when the tide flows, carries the fifh, and leaves them, when it ebbs, to be catched by men. Befides that, they live very much upon oyfters, mufcles, cockles, and other fliell-fiih, which they gather upon the beach. The' only arts of life which they have are language, by which they are enabled to live together in fmall herds; but which we muft fuppofe to^be as barbarous a language as can well be imagined, but fome- thing more than mere animal cries, as we know from fome words, which the travellers give of it; and even words better than thofe of the' Chinefe ; for they are words of feveral fyllables. They have alfo the ufe of fire, with which they roaft their Ihell-fifh; for they do not need it to keep themfelves warm, enjoying fo mild a climate. This fire they produce, by twirling betwixt their hands, upon a piece of flat wood, a ftick blunt at the end which is upon the wood, in the man ner defcribed by Dampier. They have no houfes at all, not even huts of the rudeft conftrudion, fo that they lie in the open air; nor have they any kind of cloathing. And thus thev 'ive without houfes clothes, or any food from the earth; and alfo witiK.ut any art of na' vigation, catchmg filh only in the way mat 1 have '...ntioned or gathering them upon the beach. They... ^V^efore, as 1 have faid, Chap.g A'nTIENT METAPHYSICS. f laid, of all the people that hrive^feeen difcovered, thofe \vh6'live with the leaft afTiftance either from nature or art. And, as they are fo fimple in their way of living, they are as fimple in their manners, being perfectly gentle, without fraud or deceit, and without any thing favage or fierce in their difpofirions. They were, at firft, afraid of Dampier and his people, and jBed from them ; but, when they faw that there was no danger from them, they alTociated with them in the moft friendly manner. N-- did they attempt to pilfer or fteel any thing from Dampier; nor, n leed, did any of the inha- bitants of New Holland do any thing o\ ii at kind, though nothing, be more common among other barbaroub nations. The inhabitants of Antony Vaa Diemen' Land, which is upon the fouth coaft of New Holland, do not live in a manner al- together io fim.ple, as the iniiabltants of the other Diemen's Land. Their country is not fo barren as that land, though they live very much, as Captain Cook informs us, upon fhell-fiih. But they have no ufe of canoes, any more than the inhabitants of North Diemen*s Land. They have fome wretched huts made of iHcks covered with bark ; but thefe are only eredled for temporary pur- pofes. Their fixed habitations are ot a very extraordinary kind, made by fire out of the trunks of trees, as Cc:ptain Cook tells us. In thefe they lodge themfelves and families, and even make fires in them for roafting their fifti ; but they preferve, very carefully, the reft of the trunk of the tree. The people of Latium lived in that way, when Saturn came am.ong them and introduced arts and civi- lity, which gave rife to the fable, that they were — ex truncis et duro robore nati *. and, indeed, it was natural enough, that men who were not acquaint- * Sec Vol. III. of this work; p. 3 j* ;uin3*Sfc: ft ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book L ed with tlicir manner of living, feeing them and their families com- ing out of a tree, fhould imagine that they were produced by a tree. And this is the meaning of what Homer, fpeaking of men of family, fays, that they were —tvK cent ogye; '!tx>\c.i^ent out, even in the ftormieft nights, if the door was left open, immediately after feeding. And, in the fame place, I have alfo mentioned fome horfes, which, in the fevereft wind and rain, when a Ihade was before them, would only cover their heads with it, leaving their bodies expofed to the. wind and weather. It is not many years fince the Idiot was alive, and * See Vol. III. of this work, p. 31. t Ibid. p. 79. Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 9 and he is probably yet alive; for he was fubje^ to no direafe, as I was informed. My letter, from Mr Hunter, is dated in 178^ The example of this man, who, with the figure of a man, was really a brute, leads me to fpeak of brutes that live in the pure , natural ftate, which is not the cafe of the nations that I have men- tioned; for they have the ufe of intelledt to a certain degree, by which they are enabled to invent fome few of what we call the nc- cefTary arts of life, fuch as making habitations for themfelvef^, and contriving ways of catching fifh. But the pure natural life is to be found, at prefent, only among the brutes, fome of which perform very great works of art, for their fubfiftance and the propagation of their kind : But in thefe they are direded not by intelled:, which they do not poflefs, but by what we call inJlitiB^ that is the wifdom of God, which has framed their minds in fuch a way as to be guid- ed by certain impulfes upon certain occafions, by which they are led to do every thing that is neceffary for the prefervation of the indivi- dual and the continuation of the kind. Man, when he was in the beginning of his natural ftate, was, I am perluaded, guided in ma- ny things by inftind:, as the brutes are. But, if he had continued to be fo, and had been direded by that inftind, to make fuch artificial works for his fubfiftance and the continuation of the kind, as the bees, the ants, the beavers, and the birds, make, he never could have cultivated his intelled, nor invented arts and fciences ; for it was, firft, his fenfes, and the neceffities of life, which roufed his in- telled from the lethargic ftate it was in after his fall, and excited it to invent thofe arts which were neceftary for his fubfiftance. And thus it appears, that every thing, relating to the reftoration of man from his fallen ftate, has been fo ordained by a wife and good God, as to go on in the moft regular and natural way, beginning with the neceftary arts of life, and only very few of them at firft j and fo go- ing on, ftill cultivating his intelled by the invention of more of the Vol. V. B necelfary lo ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book L neceflary arts, till at laft he forms civil focieties ; in which men, joining their wits together, by the coiimunicauon of fpeech invent- ed all the neceflary arts, then arts of convenience and pleafure, and, laft of all, fciences. Now, it is only by arts and fciences, as I have faid in more than one place, that man can make anv progrefs, in this life, towards regaining the ftaie from which he fell. CHAP. Chap, IL ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. n CHAP. II. Of the Civilifed Life of Man — altogether different from his Natural Lf. — To be inquired^ which of them is mof conducive to the well- being of the Animal Life, — The Life of the Brute, who lives the pure Animal Lfe^ coinpared with the Civilifed Life, and f own to be more ptrfedl than the Animal Life of Man in his Civilifed State, — The wi/iiom and Goodnefs of God have affignedfor every Animal the life mof proper for it. — The Brute enjoys that life, — and is not liable to any difeafe — not even the plagues produced by a contagion of the air. — The nearer Man comes to this Natural Lite, the heal- thier, and [Ironger, and longer-lived he is. — This proved by faEi as well as reafon ; particularly by the example of the People of the Ladrone Ifands, — alfo by the example of the Calif ornians, inhabit- ing the north wef coaf of America; — and of the Caribbs inhabit^ ing the Antilles in the Wef Indies ;-^and, lafly, by the example of the Antedeluvian Patriarchs. — The People of the Pelew I/lands and of New Zealand, though living lefs in the Natural Life, Rill preferve their health. IN the preceding chapter I have fhown what the natural life of man is. What his civilifed life is, we all know very well. It is a life with the ufe of clothes, houfes, fire, flefh diet prepared by fire, and even the vegetables we eat prepared in that way; with the ufe, too, of fermented and even diiUlled liquors. How different this manner of living is fom the natural, is evident at lirll light; And we are now to inquire, which of them is moft conducive to the B 2 well-being 12 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book I. well-being of the animal life of man; for it is only concerning this life of man, that we are at prefent inquiring, not his intelledual. This inquiry naturally leads us to compare the life of the brute, who lives in the pure natural ftate, with the animal life of man in the civilifed ftate. And I hold it to be certain, that his life is much more perfect, of the kind, than the fame life in civilifed man. And, in the firft place, every man, who believes in God, muft likewife believe that his wifdom and goodnefs has appointed for every animal the life the moft fuitable to his nature, and fuch as will preferve and continue his health longer than any other : Nor do I know, that any philofophers, not even thofe philofophers of modern times, who appear to be difl'atistied with the providence of God, have maintained, that any way of life, of the feveral fpeciefes of brute animals, could be contrived to make them more happy than the life in which God and Nature has deftined they Ihould Hve. If, therefore, the natural life of man be fuch as I have defcribed it, it is evident, that, in a ftate of nature, he muft be healthier, bigger, ftronger of , body, and longer-lived, than in the civilifed ftate j for it is impofhble to luppofe that he could have invented any better life, than that aftlgned him by God and Nature. The brutes, who live that natural life, and are not under our dominion, by which they are often made almoft as difcafed as . we are, enjoy much better health than we do: And, indeed, it does not appear, that they are liable to any difeafes, not even that difeafe which we call a plague, and which muft proceed from fome contagion of the air; for the greateft plagues that have been known, one of which is faid to have deftroyed one half of the human fpecies, did not aire ^nat cannot be, if we are to take in the air kept about us by our ^= ^, which muft neccifa- rily be fouled by the exhalations of our ow dy. It muft, there- fore, be the pure circumambient air. This the .: ked favage is con- tinually taking in; but the clothed man cannot take m, exci-pt when he ftrlps. And here the Greeks and Rcnnans had a great advantage over us; for they performed all their exercifcs naked; and the Egyp- tians, too, by ftriping and bathing 4 times in the 24 hours, muft have taken in a great deal of good air. If thefe propofuions, which 1 have mentioned, of the neceiTity of not keeping about us the excremens, as they may be called, of our bodies, and of taking in, by the i ores of our fkin, the frelh air, as well as by our mouth, be well founded, what Ihall we fav of thofc millions of people, in Great Britain, wiio never bathe, but live con- ftantly in the filth of their own bodies ; and who never ftrip unlefs to put on a clean Ihirt, in a clofe room, and very often, before a fire. The people of England have been at more pains, and more ex- pence, than, I believe, any other people of the world, to reftoro health after it is loft, not only by phyficians, furgeons, and apothe- caries. 12 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book I. caries, and all forts of drugs and medicines, but by erecting hofpi- tals, more, I am perfuaded, than are to be found in any other coun- try. Yet difeafe, in England, ftill continues to increafe; and it is fur- prifmg how many of thofe, that are put into hofpitals, die there, and particularly children. Of this I have given an example in the third volume of this work*, where I have mentioned an hofpital for chil- dren in London, in which, out of 74, there died 7 1 in a year. But the people of England have not been fo attentive to the preferving health, a thing of much more value than the reftoring it after it is loft. One of the things that preferves health, more than any thing elfe I know, is the daily ufe of the cold bath, by which, as I have faid, we are pre- vented from living in the filth of our own bodies, and having that filth again taken in by our fkins. This preventive of difeafe is particu- larly necefTary among the common people, who cannot afford a clean Ihirt every day, and wear the fame fliirt, not only for days, but for weeks together. There is a part of the Highlands of Scotland, where as I was informed by a clergyman, who was a native there, the country people wear their fhirts, without fhifting, till they are in rags; the confequence of which is, that they are all overrun with the itch, and mufl be liable to many more difeafes. Now, this mifchief might be in a great meafure prevented by the frequent ufe of the cold bath; and, I think, it is worth the attention of Go- vernment, to give the people of Scotland, and particularly thofe of the Highlands, an opportunity of ufmg it, by ereding public baths, fuch as they have in the fouth of France, and which, I am perfuad- ed contributes very much to the health of the people there. The baths might be erected and kept going at a very fmall expence, which might be furnilbed by a trifling tax on the people of the feveral dif- trids where the baths are ere ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book L fcholar, to ftudy the way of living of the antient clvilifed nations, that were famous for arts and fciences. By that ftudy, without be- ing a philofopher, or able to diftingulfh accurately betwixt the na- tural .and civilifed life, and to know that the natural is much more conducive to health than the civiliied, he will learn, by example, a manner of living much better than any that is pradifed at prefent in Britain or in Europe; for there is no modern nation, at prefent in Europe, that I know, whofe manner of Uving I could recommend. But it is the great advantage of claffical learning to carry us back to antient times, and to make us live, as it were, in the antient world; where, among other arts and fciences that are to be learned, the moft ufeful art of any is to be learned, I mean the art of living, and of enjoying all the advantages, and all the pleafures, of the civilifed and domefticated life, with many fewer difeafes and pains than thofe to which our civilifed life is Uable. And I will mention three nations, from whom I think a great deal of the art of living is to be learned; the Egyptian, Grecian, and Roman. Of the way of living of thefe three nations, I have faid a good deal already, but I will hear men- tion fomething more particular with regard to each of them. The Egyptians, as they were the moft antient nation in the world, and therefore nearer the Gods than we, (to ufe an exprefTion of Plato), fo they were the wife ft nation in the world. They were go- verned by religion and philofophy; and therefore their nation, and their families, lafted longer than any other. As to their nation, though they do not appear to have multiplied in later times fo much as in older, when they fent colonies all over the world then known*, they do not appear ever to have been in any immediate hazard of dying out, as we fee the modern nations are, and therefore the death they died was a violent one, fuch as any nation in the courfe of human affairs may die, I mean by conqueft ; and as to their fa- milieSj * Vol. 4- p. 235. Chap. IV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 33 milies, Herodotus only mentions the duration of one of them, that of the family of the High Prieft of Jupiter in Thebes, which lafted above 11,000 years, in the male line, from father to fon, and this vouched by a chronological monument, fuch as, I believe, was not to be feen in any other country of the world *. Of their govern- ment and laws I am not to fpeak at prefent, (having faid enough on that fubje(5l in volume iv. of this workf ), but only of their manner of living, of which Herodotus has given us a very particular defcription. From his account it appears that they lived full, and indulged them- felves, to a certain degree, in the pleafures of the table. At the fame time, they did not pradife the gymnaftic exercifes of the Greeks: But they bathed more than they did, twice in the daytime, and as often in the night; and in cold water, which, I think, was very proper ; for, not ufmg the Greek Athletic exercifes, the w^arm bath would have relaxed them too much ; though I am not fure but the practice of the Heroes in Homer J, who ufed bathing after fa- tigue, beginning with the cold bath, and then ufmg the warm, after which they anointed, was ftill better than the more modern Greek practice, of ufmg the warm bath only. But what was moft fmgular in the Egyptian regimen, and muft have had a very great efFed upon their health, was the phyfic they t©ok, and their regular evacua- tions, by vomiting, purging, and clyftering, for three days fuccef- fively in the beginning of each month: And they gave, what I think, a good reafon for this practice; namely, that in a country fuch as Egypt, where the human body could not be hurt by vIci/Titudcs of weather, there could be no caufe of difeafe but intemperance. By Uving in this way, Herodotus fays, they were the healtlii- eft of all the men then known, the Lybians only excepted, whom Vol. V. E (as * Vol I. of Origin of Language, p. C27. 2d edition. -|- Chap. 10. of Book 2. X Iliad 10. V 572. 34 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book L (as I have fiiid) I conlider as favages rather than civilifed men. One part of their regimen we ought certainly to imitate ; and that is their frequent bathing in cold water, which ferves the double pur- pofe both of cleanling and bracing. The people of Otaheite pradlife it twice a day; which makes them fo clean and fweet, compared with us, that Omai, the Otaheite man, who was in England fome years ago, thought all the people of England flunk ; And I can eafily believe, that a man, born and brought up in fo cleanly a coun- try, would have the fenfe of fmelling much more delicate than the peo- ple of Great Britain, the greater part of whom not only do not bathe once a day, but live conftantly in the filth of their own bodies, and fo may be f^ud, compared with the people of Otaheite, to live in a houfe of oflice. Further, I think, if we will live indolently and lux- vn-ioufly, w^e fhould take phyfic, as the Egyptians did, and as the French people of quality did, when I was among them, about 30 years ago ; the confequence of which was, that, according to my obfervation, they kept their health better, and lived longer, if they kept free of the venereal difeafe, than the people of the fame rank in Britain. But I would hardly advife fo fevere a purgation as the Egyptian; becaufe I am afraid our weak bodies could not bear it, any more than the Monks of the Grande Chartreufe could at prefent bear bleeding five times a year, which was a rule of the order, and was pradifed three or four hundred years ago** But in a climate fo variable as ours, and fo different in every re- fpee had not joined with other Powers, our conduct would have been both difhonourable and impo^ litic, IN the preceding Book I have fpoken at great length (I hope the reader does not think too great) of the difference betwixt the natural and civilifed life, with refpedl to the body: I have alfo fhown the Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 51 the difference betwixt our manner of living and that of the antient nations, fuch as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans ; and, 1 think, I have proved, that, in what the Romans called the cura corporis^ they excelled us very much. As health is the greateil blefling we enjoy in this life, and the foundation of every other, vre can- not give too much attention to it; for without it we cannot, in this ftate of our exiflence, united as we are with body, cultivate pro- perly our minds, or make that progrefs in arts and fciences, in reli- gion and philofophy, by which only we can prepare ourfelves for a happier life in the next world. If the men in antient times had been as difeafed and fhort lived as we are, I am perfuaded that not one half of the arts and fciences, w^hich have come down to us from the antient world, could have been invented. I come now to fpeak of the difference betwixt the minds of men in the natural ftate, and of thofe in the civilifcd life ; and as mind is the principal part of our compofition, the difference, with regard to it, betwixt the two ftates, mull be of the greateft confequence, and therefore is carefully to be attended to. It is the feveral arts and fci* ences, invented by man in the civilifed life, which make fo great a difference betwixt the two ftates. After the neceffary arts were dif- covered, the inventive genius of man did not ftop there, but pro- ceeded, as I have faid *, to find out arts of eafe, convenience, and pleafure. Thefe excited not only our bodily appetites, but various paffions In the minds of men; fuch as vanity, ambition (or the love of fuperiority and power), envy, jealoufy, anger, and revenge: And there is another paflion which diftinguifties the civilifed lift from the natural, more than any 1 have mentioned ; for it is peculiar to the civilifed life : I mean the love of money, or whatever icX^o. makes what we call wealth. This may be faid to be the moft laftino- of all our paffions; for it is not abated, like our other paffions, by old G 2 age, * Page 10. 52 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book II. age, but, on the contrary, is commonly increafed by it: Nor has it any bounds fet to it; for it is true what the Roman hif- torian fays of it, Pecuji'ice cttpido infinita^ infatiabilis^ neque copia neque inop'ia mmmttir''^ . It is the maft common paflion among ci- vilifed men, and the mod predominent: So predominent, that it en- groffes fome men altogether, and extinguifhes every other paflion in them; fo that fuch men think of nothing elfe but money, and employ themfelves wholly in diviiing means how they (hall gain it or fave it f. It furni{hes the materials of vanity and luxury, and therefore may be faid to produce them, and confequently the vices and difeafes which accompany them. It has produced, as Ariftotle obferves, more crimes than any of our other paf- fions ; and, I will add, more wars, and more deftrudion of man- kind, than all our other paflions put together. It is of fo mifchieve- ous a nature, that it is not eafy to fay, whether the acquifition, or the enjoyment of it, produces mod mifchief. The invention of what we call money or coin^ was, I think, a curious, if not an ufeful in- vention. Herodotus fays we owe it to the Lydians. By this inven- tion a certain value is fixed or ftamped on pieces of gold, filver, or brafs : And thefe pieces will, to that value, procure any thing of neceflity, eafe, convenience, or pleafure ; and, in Ihort, will gratify all the appetites and defires which the civilifed life produces: And it makes the enjoyment of wealth very eafy, as w^ can carry it about with us fo eafily. In modern times, we have invented a kind of money which is ftill more eafily carried about with us ; I mean pa- per money or bank notes. One of the greateft mifchiefs that money has produced is war; fo that Virgil has very properly joined the belli rabies with the amor ha- bendL * Sail, in initio Bell. Catalitt, I See upon this iubje^ €d by internal diforders, of which weakh was not primarily the caiife. As to the heroic governments of Greece, it appears from Homer, that, at the time of the Trojan war, they had departed fo far from the natural life, that they ate flelh and drank wine in great plenty. But, in more antient times, it appears, they lived like other nations upon the natural fruits of the ear^h; and there are two herbs mentioned that they were particularly fond of, the u^ .\ayn and the cc^a> f^iy' oyiiic^, ■ Opera ft JDieS^ t Lib. I. cap. 13. 6ff ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IL is by Tveight, and given in exchange for other commodities. But even this ••- ifdom of Lycurgus, the Oracle forefaw, would not fave Spaita from deflruaion by wealth; and, accordingly, it prophefied that the love of wealth, and nothing elfe, would deftroy Sparta *. As to Rome, there was there a diftindion of wealthy and poor, as I have Ihown in the pafTage above quoted from the Origin of Language f, fuch as muft have ruined every government, if the poor were to have any fhare in it^ and were not to be abfolute flaves to the rich. And here, I think, we cannot fufhciently admire the wifdom of the Egyptian legiflators, who formed a conftitution, which lafted much longer tho.n any other conftitution upon earth; and was not corrupted by wealth, nor deftroyed by any internal diforder in the government, nor by any other caufe except external violence; I mean the invafion of the Perfians, a people who had not beea long in a ftate of civility, and therefore retained that ftrength, both of mind and body, which was not to be found in men who had beert civilifed for thoufands of years, as the Egyptians then were; fo that they were conquered by the Perfians, for the fame reafon that the Perfians conquered the Medes, the Macedonians the Perfians, the Romans the Macedonians, and the barbarous nations, from the North, the Romans; fo true it is, that the civilifed life, eveafuch as that of the Egyptians, the beft, I believe, that ever was, being, notwithftanding, an unnatural life, impairs the ftrength both of the mind and the body of man, however much it may improve him in arts and fciences.. CHAP. f Vol. 5. p. l88. &C. Chap.rir. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. % CHAP. IIL Proved that the acqu'ifition of Wealth produces great mifchief, — To he ijiq?nred^ Whether the enjoyment of it does not make up for that mif- chief— The opi?iion of Horner^ that Man was the mof miferahle of all Animals, — ^le/lion^ Whether be be lefs rniferable now^ when he has fo much more money ^ than in the days of Homer P — God has af Jigned for every Animal an oeconomy and manner of life ^ that gives him all the happinefs his nature is capable of — Man^ therefore, in his natural fate^ is as happy as other Animals in that /late, — The ^i if ion then is. Whether Money has made him happier in the Ci- vil fed State? — The efijoyment of Money produces as much evil as the acquifttion of it, — Wealth produces Luxury and Vanity, and af fords many temptations, that are not to be rtfifled by a weak intelleSl^ fuch as that of Man, — Of the divifton of Men, introduced by Wealth, ifito thofe who live in Vanity and Luxury, and thofe who- minifer to that Vanity and Luxury. — The effect of Wealth upon the Rich, is to make them more difeafed and more rniferable — and upon the Poor, to make thtm fill poorer. — This paradox explained, by fjowing that Wealth raifes the price of the neceffaries of life, and prompts the Poor to imitate the Luxury and Vanity of the Rich. — The drinking of Tea an example of this. — Of the poverty of Ma- nufaBurers though their wages be high. — The Poors rate of Lng- land incr cafes with the wealth of a Nation. — Wealth makes the Rich poor — and confquently avaritious. — The confcquence of Luxu- ry and Avarice being joined together in the great Men of a State, "•—The conf piracy of Cataline^ a remarkable infance of that. — Of the effects of Wealth in England — more confpicuous than in any Country 70 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book II. Caiintry in England^ as the Wealth is greater. — More Crimes^ more Vices ^ and more Indigence ^ in Kngland^ than in any other Country, —-Thefe produce a Colony of Convicts to Botany Bay. — A particu^ iar account 'f that Colony given. Indigence the fource of almojl all the Crimes in England. — Ihe dijlin&ton of the Luxurious and lu" dolenty and of thofe that miniftered to their Luxury and Indolence^ not known amonft the Greeks in the Heroic age. — yl particular account of their doineflic occonomy. — 'The fame was the cafe among the Ro" mans in the early ages of their State. — Men in thefe early ages^ bet- ing nearer the natural fate., lived in a m're natural way, and therefore were happier than in later ti?/.es. — In the next Book an Inquiry, Whether fome means might not be contrived to alleviate thefe mif chiefs of Civil Society, BY what I have faid in the preceding chapters, I think I have fliown, that money or wealth produces the grpateft mifchief among men, war, alfo trade and navigation to the moft diftant coun- tries of the world, by which, as well as by war, great numbers of men muft be confumed ; and I am now to inquire. Whether, by the ufe of money, thus acquired with fo much deftrudion of the ipecies, men are happier or more miferable in civil fociety than in the natural Hate. Homer has told us, and from the mouth of Jupiter, that man is the mofl; miferable creature on this earth *. As Homer knew only men in the civilifed ftate, his opinion clearly is, that men, in that ftate, are not only not happy, but the moft miferable of all animals, that is, more miferable than the animals in the natural ftate, in which all animals are except men. When Homer wrote, money was hard- ly L * Qy fitv y«(> T« K6V Irli* •V^^*»Tij9» eii^^es HxiTftf, *«r, the ufe of wealth in a nation is to make them ftill poorer. This may to many appear incredible j but it is proved, both by the reafon of the thing, and by fad! and expe- rience. For much money in a country raifes the price of every thino-, even of the neceffciries of life ; but with thefe the poor not con- tented, imitate the luxury and vanity of the great and rich. Of this the liquor, we call iea^ is a notable example., It is brought from the extremities of the eaft and weft, from countries altogether un- known to the antients. In the days of Dean Swift, the fine ladies only drank it to breakfaft \ which makes the Dean fay, that their luxury * How different is their death from the death of the inhabitants of the ifland of 8-- ria, (mentioned by iumaeus, in the 15th Ociyf. verfe 402. and following,) who were afflided with no long or painful difeafes, but, when they grew old, were killed by the gentle darts of Apollo and Diana. Nafc«-»5 iTTi a-ruyi^y) TttXiTxi ^I.A«/j-/ jifartur.i' AAA "«T£ yr,fot7KM7t tsoXiI kuIx a manufacturer earns more in the day than any common laboui'er : He ought, therefore, not to increafe the poor's rate. But it is quite the contrary : For the ufe manufacturers make of the profits of their bufinefs, is to work only five days of the w^eek, and the other two to fpend in idlenefs and debauchery; fo that they lay up no- thino- for old age and bad health, and commonly leave their wives and children a burden upon the parifh. It is for this reafon that the gentlemen in England very often difcountenance the fetting up any new manufacture upon their lands, as there is thereby a great: increafe of the poor's rate. Thus, I think, I have proved, by reafon and argument, that the, wealth of a nation increafes the number of poor: And it is alfo proved by f^Cts ; for, as I have elfewhere obferved, when Rome was miilrefs of the wealth of the world, the number of thofe who lived upon public diftributions of com, or the poor s roll as we would call it, amounted to 320,000, which was reduced by Julius Csefar to 150,000*. Now, the wealth of England is certainly much increafed * Sucton. in vita Cxfaris cap. 41. — See what I have faid upon this fubjedi in vol. 5. of Origin of Language, p. 188. and following. Chap. in. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 7^ incrcafed within thefc few yearso Btu, has the poor's rate decreaf- ed? So far from that, the poor's rate, which, as I am informed, was 10 or 12 years ago, no more thanyo//r milhons, is now J/x, and ftill increafmg : So that it is become a very great burden upon the country; and, there are many, who pay to the poor more than to both church and king. Thus it appears, that both the acquifition and enjoyment of wealth not only deftroy a great number of men, but, what appears very extraordinary, make the poor ftill poorer j and often the rich poor, by increafmg their vanity and luxury. As luxury appears to be infeparably joined with wealth in a na- tion, and, as luxury, when it goes to any excefs, naturally produces poverty, it is not improper to confider here, what the effed of po- verty and luxury, joined together, may produce upon the great men of a nation. The defire of money is, as I have faid, infinite and infatiable ; and fo is luxury, efpecially when vanity is joined to it. Now, thefe two infatiable pafFions, joined together in l/js great of a nation, muft produce extraordinaiy effects; efpecially if the great be what they ought to be by their birth; — hii:;h mind- ed men, and therefore unable to ftoop to poverty, and to the meannefs which accompanies it. And here we may obferve the dif- ference betwixt the mifer and the prodigal: The mifer loves mo- ney for its own fake, and onlydefires to accumulate it: Whereas the prodigal defires it in order to gratify his luxury, which, as I have faid, has no bounds; fo that he is under the dominion of two paftions equally infatiable, while the mifer is under the dominion of one pafFion only, the love of money. When, therefore, he firfl begins to accumulate money, he propofes only to fecurc himfclf againft want. It is time, indeed, when that is done, and when lie has got together fo much money, that it is impoffible he can be afraid K 2 of ^6 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IL of ever w anting, to ftop ; yet he ftill continues to accumulate. But this I afcribe partly to vanity, (for all rich men are more or lefs vain of their money,) but chiefly to the habit, he has got into, of devifmg how to fave and gain money, and lay it out to the greateft ad- vantage, and to his inability of pafTmg his time in any other way;' fo that he is driven to the neceflity of continuing his application to money, by his not knowing what elfe to do, which makes many people do many things that they would not otherw^fe do. But ftill, I think, it is true what I have obferved, that the mifer, from what- ever motive he accumulates, will not do things fo bad, for the ac- quifition of money, as the man who joins the two vices of luxury and avarice. Thefe two vices were joined together in Rome, as Salluft informs- U3- for, he ioijsjjabemus luxuriam et avaritiam^ : And it was in the. nobles that they were joined, which produced the moft dreadful con- fpiracy that ever exifted in any nation; for it was the conjpiracy of thefe nobles, who, by their birth and education, ought to have been the beft men in the city, againft the government and the reft of the people.. The confpiracy I mean, was that of Cataline, by which, not only the government was to be overturned, but the city fet on ftre, and' the people of rank and wealth murdered even by their ow^n chil- dren. Of this confpiracy, we have a very accurate account given us by Salluft, and w^hich I think a very valuable piece of hiftory. As there is more wealth, I believe, in England than in any other country of Europe, fo there are, there, to be {ttxv more bad effeds of wealth tlian any where elfe ; for there are, in England,, more crimes and vices, more difeafes and more indigence, than in any other nation now exifting, or, I believe, that ever did exift. x\s to crimes, they abound fo much, that our jails cannot hold our convidts \ * Bejlum Caiilincrium. Chap. m. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 7- convids ; and we are obliged to fend out colonies, fuch as no nation ever fent out before, to a very diftant country, till of late quite un- known; to which they are tranfported at a great expence, and main- tained, when there, at a ftill greater*. — Now, thefe crimes are almod land. jS ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book TI, cularly that mod dreadful dlfeafe confumptioji^ of which more die than of any other two dif^afes,; and, as it is children, or perfons under age, who commonly die of it, it muft be produced by the dif- cafes or weakneffes of the parents Now, I Tiould be glad to know, whether crimes and vices, difeafes and indigence, be not one or other " of them, and much more altogether, the fource of the mifery of every nation ? There is one obfervation more that I will make upon the love of money. It is a pilfion which may be faid to comprehend every other, as it furnifhes the materials for gratifying not only our fenfual appetites, but our vanity, and our talle for every thing we think beautiful or fine ; alfo our ambition, particularly in Britain where money makes a man very eminent in the ftate and govern- ment of the country. It is, therefore, a moft comprehenfive pafTion; But it excludes what I think our greatefl: happinefs in this life ; and, that is the pleafure of loving and being loved ; for a man, who is r oireffed by this paffion, has neither love nor frienJihip for any man. Now a man, who loves no man, can be beloved by no man, not even by his neareft relations j for, as Horace fays, addreffing him- felf to the man of money, Non uxor falvum te vult non fillu? ; omnes Vicini oJerunt, noti, pueri atque puellae. Miraris, cum tu argento port: oai;iia poaas, Si nemo praeftet, queoi non morearis, amorem, Lih. I. 5fl/. I. This paiTion, in Britain, is as univerfal as it is comprehenfive, money being the purfuit, not only of almofl every private man but of the public; for our legiflature, when it is ailembled, is chieHy em- ployed about money ; and the principal bufmefs of our miiiifLer is to contrive means how to get it, and how to lay it out. And this may Cfiap. III. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 79 may be a reafon, Vv^Iiy our Parliaments, and minlflers, give (o little attention to the three great articles of the political fyftem, the health, the morals, and the numbers of the people *. Before I quit this fubjed, I muft return to the divifion I m-^de of a wealthy people into two claffes, thofe w^ho live in vanity, luxury, and indolence, and thofe who minifter to that vanity, luxury, and indolence t. This divifion was not known among the Greeks of the heroic age: For there was no wealth among them; and, their gover- nors and rulers, as well as the reft of the people, lived upon the produce of land, which they cultivated themfeives, with the affif- tance, no doubt, of fuch ilaves as they could purchafe. The heroes, therefore, not only excelled in council and fight, but pradtifed the necelfaiy arts of life, fuch as agriculture. Accordingly, Ulyiles challenges Eurymachus, one of the courtiers, to mow or plow with him J : And he tells Eum^Eus§, that in fuch fervile works as making a fire, breaking wood for that puipofe, roafling meat, mix- ing and preparing wine, and ordering a table, he would contend with any perfon. For, it is to be obferved, that thofe Greek he- roes employed the flaves they purchafed only in works without doors, fuch as cultivating the ground, and taking care of their cat- tle and fwine ; and, accordingly, Eumasus was the fwine herd of UlyfTes. It does not, therefore, appear, that any of thofe heroes had any domeftic fervants, even when they went abroad and were engaged in the Trcjan war. Accordingly, when Achilles en- tertained the ambalTadors of Agamemnon in his tent, it was his friend Patroclus who prepared fupper for them and mixed the wine: And, even when they lived in the country upon their farms, it docs not appear that they had any domeftic male fervants; but the whole * See what I have fi^id of thefe vol. 4. of this work p. 21 r, t Page 72. t OdyiT. 18. v. 36c, ;5 Ibid. 15. V. 32c. So ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book TI. -whole work of the family was performed by their maids. Ulyfles, of whofe family we have a more particular account than of that of any other, had no lefs than 50 maids*, who did all the bufinefs of his family; nor, does it appear that he had any male fervants, ex- cept Eum^us his fwine herd, a goat herd, and a cow herd. And thus it happened, that, when the heroes went abroad, as they car- ried no domeftic fervants with them, neither male nor female, they were obliged to perform, themfelves, the moft fervile offices ; fuch as making a fire and dreffing viduals. but, while they were at home, every thing of that kind was performed by females. — In the firfl: ages of the Roman ftate, when the citizens lived upon a few acres of land, their great men held the plough. Thus Cin- cinnatus was taken from the plough to be Didator, when he com- plained that his farm would fuffer by his abfence. And thus it appears, that men, in the firft ages of fociety, before the ufe of money had got in among them, which it had not among the Greeks at the time of the Trojan war, lived in a more natural way, being nearer to the natural ftate, and confequently were hap- pier than men in the more advanced ages of fociety. Of this I will fay more afterwards; but, in the mean time, I think I have faid enough to fhow the difference betwixt the minds ot men in the more advanced ages of fociety, and their minds in the natural ftate, or even in the firft ages of fociety; and to prove, that the greateft evils, of mind as well as of body, arile from civil fociety. And, as the pains of the mind are much greater than thofe of the body, (for the body, as Epicurus fays, ails only the prefent, whereas the mind not only ails the prefent, but the paft and future,) the confequence is, that men are much more unhjppy in civil fociety than in the natu- ral ftate. And, 1 am now to inquire. What good is to be reaped from civil fociety; and, whether fome means might not be contriv- ed * Odyff. 22 V. 42 r. Chap. m. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Bi ed to alleviate the ills which it produces? But this I intend to be the fubje6t of the next book. I will only add, before I conclude this, that, by what 1 have faid of the love of money, I do not mean that a man fhould not give a proper attention to money, fo far as it is necelTary for living decently and fuitably to his rank, and for pro- viding for his family or enabling him to be charitable and benefi* cent, but that he fhould not be wholely ingroffed by the paffion for money, fo as to Itudy nothing elfe but the gaining or faving it. ¥oL. V,. L BOOK ^•^ ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book HI. BOOK III. Of the Advantages Derived from Civil Society, and how its Ills may be Alleviated, CHAP. Reafon ivhy Man In the Natural State is happier than in the Civilif- ed. — In the firjl he is governed by Jnjiindf^ — /// the la ft by his own Intelligence. — His wants and de fires few in the Natural State, — ■ /;; the Civi'ifed State innumerable^ — particularly wheti money fur- nifies the means of gratijying them. — In the Civil fed State mofl unnatural pajfions arfe. — Infiance of this in the paffion of males for males. — This a perverfion oj a natural and neceffary paffion,— fuppof ed to have been invented in Greece — much praEiifed in 7hebes, par- ticularly by its Sacred Band.— // went, from Greece to Rome — was much refned there, particularly by the Emperour Heliogabalus. ^-Not unknown in Modern times.— Still praSlifed in Italy, — in Ruffia, and even among the barbarians of Kam/ljatka. — Ihe con- fequence of Vices in the Civilifed life, is Dlfeafes, — The num- ber of thcfe at prefent in Europe not known. — In Pliny the elder s time they were reckoned 300. — They miifl be novo much increafcd as many have bten im'^orted. — In England more Dif- lafes than in mofl other parts of Europ£^ becaufe more Wealth. — We have Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 83 have hardly names ^ much lefs cures for them, — Of the prevalence of Confumptions among us, — The death of Children by this difcafe muji ar'ife from the weakneffes of Parents, — To the fame catfe is to be attributed the great mortality of Children in great Toivns, fuch as London^ — -where it is computed^ that not a h.df of thofe that are born live to be tvDO years old, — Confumption not unknoivn to the Antients; — but not near fo fatal. — This a proof that their manner of Life was more Natural than ours. IN the preceding book I think I have fhown very clearly, that man, in his natural ftate, is much happier than he is in his ci- vilifed life, as it is condud:ed at prefent in the nations of Europe. And the reafon is plain, that man, as well as other animals in the natural ftate, is governed by inftindl, that is divine intelligence prompting him to do every thing that is neceflary for. the preferva- tion of the ind vidual and the continuation of the kind; whereas the civilifed man is guided by his own intelligence, which, however weak or imperfed: it may he. is the governing principle in his little world, dire6iing all his operations, particularly thofe. of his animal life. Now, this government nmft be very diflicuk in the civil foci- eties 1 fpeak of, particularly m fuch of them where money is fo pre- dominant, and of fuch general ufe., as ic is in Britain In the natu- ral ftate, the wants and appetites are very few, none but fuch as ar& neceflary for the fupport of the indiviuual and the propagation of the kind,- and which all, at the fame time, give pleafure to the ani- mal ; whereas^ in the civilifed ftate, the wants and defires are innu- merable, efpecially when money furniihes the means of gratifying them. Then there arife paffions the raoft unnatural ; and, even in focieties where money is not fo predominant, one paflion has arifen, the mcft unnatural that can be imagined : For, the inventive genius of man prompts him, after he has tried all natural pleafures, and is L 2 fatiated . ^4 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book lit fatiated with them, to devife others altogether out of nature. The paffion 1 mean, is the love of males, and the enjoyment of them in the way of venery, in place of females; than which no pafFion can be imagined more unnatural, or a greater perverfion of a paifion which is necelTary for the moft ufeful of all purpofes, the continuation of the kind. It was the inventive genius of Greeks that contrived this refinement, as by fome it is thought, upon the natural pleafure of coition. It began, it is faid, to be pradifed in Greece about the time of Laius the father of Oedipus, and was foon propagated all over Greece. Among the Thebans it was fo common, 'and even among their beft men, that their Sacred Band^ as it was called, which was reckoned invincible, confifted all of men who had an inter- courfe of that kind together, and were either adtive or paflive in that pleafure. From the Greeks it went to the Romans, who made a refinement upon it unknown to the Greeks ; For, they pra^\y^ In Phi^ lofophy, the highef enjoyment this Earth affords*. BUT fuppoffe that a man has not had the advantage of fuch an education, or has not profited fo much by it (which I am afraid often happens) as to be able to employ his leilure in- antient learning, What muft he do? And here money, which does fomuch rnifchief, may again be of fome ufe. For, though he be a man of fortune, and, as it often happens, follows no bufmefs or profeflionj fo that his whole life is leifure, inftead of cafmg himfelf of fo great a load, as his time muft be upon him, in vitious pleafures or frivolous amufcments, which always fatiate fooner or latter, he iliould apply to Chap. IV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS". 105 to 7noney, and employ his time in counting it, and devifing ways how he fhall fave or gain it. And if he keeps a great table, and fine equipage, and confequently a great number of fervants, and fets down every farthing he gets in and lays out, at the fame time tak- ing care that he is not cheated by his fervants, and that money may- be faved as much as poflible, he will find that he has very little tim^ to fpare. As to the lower fort of people, their occupation is making money, and it is that which makes them run about in fuch hafte as we fee them do in great towns. What leifure they have is generally very ill employed. They have one feventh day wholly of reft ; and, though 1 approve very much of keeping the Sabbath by prayers and fermons, yet, as the people are incapable of employing the reft of the day in private devotion, I think they fhould employ fomc part of it, as the Roman farmers did their whole holidays, in athletic or military exercifes, and as the people of England formerly did after divine fervice, inftead of paffing it in drunkennefs or idlenefs as the people of England now do; and they commonly add to it a confi- derable part of Saturday. And this makes their lives fo far un- happy; but we may think what their mifery would be, if they had not the occupation of acquiring money, and their whole life w^re leifure. Among us there is one clafs of men, who not having the occupa- tion of making money, and not having had the education, which, as Ariftotle has obferved, is required to enable a man to pafs his leifure well, and having at the fame time a great deal of leifure, employ it very ill, and are perhaps the moft profligate fet of men in Britain. The men I mean are the fervants of the great and rich, who being very numerous, and employed in miniftering to the va- nity and luxury of their mafters in their tables and equipages, have very 104 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. very little to do, and have confequently a great deal of leifure. And, as they are, at the fame time, very well fed, they mufl: needs be very profligate : And they verify the truth of that common fay- ing among the Greeks, ov (r')(^o'kn S^ovKoig^ no le'ifure for Jlaves, And, according to my obfervation, it is leifure, or the want of fomething to do, that more than any thing elfe corrupts the manners of fer- vants. Now, let us confider how the Greeks and Romans pafled. their time and employed their leifure, compared with the way in which the people of Britain pafs their time at prefent. The Romans, who lived in the country, employed themfelves, as I have obferved, in the moft healthy, and, I think, the moft pleafant of all occupations, I mean agriculture ; and their holidays they pafled in the way Virgil has defcribed, that is in military and athletic exercifes; and he adds, that, by living fuch a life, the Sabines and Etrurians became eminent nations, and Rome the finefl: city in the world*. And, indeed, when to the occupation of agriculture is joined the exercife of arms, as it was among the Romans, I think both together make a moft pleafant, as well as a mofl: healthy and ufeful life. As to thofe who lived in town, they had palsefl:ras in the days of Au;_^aftus ; and at all times they had their Campus Martins, in which they pradlifed different exercifes, and among others fwim- ming, one of the moft healthy and ftrengthening exercifes: And even the lov^er fort of people, after they had done their bufmefs, Poft decifa negotia, as Horace expreflies it, went and entertained themfelves in the Cam- pus Martius f . * As * See p. 30. of this vol. f The pailage in Horace is in Epifl. 7. Book 2. where he tells the pleafajit ftory of Philip and Vultcivii-. Chap. IV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 105 As to the Greeks, they were not fo happy as to employ themfelves fo much in agriculture as the Romans did. The Spartans cultivat- ed all their lands by their flaves, the Helots ; and the whole occu- pation of the men among them, that were not old, was the exerci- fes of the palxRra, which were fo violent, and fo conftant, that war, we are told, was reft to them. They, therefore, can hardly be faid to have had any leifure. But the Athenians had leifure ; and no people in the world ever employed it in fo elegant a manner. They had their palseftras too, and were all in that way trained to arms. But their pleafure was their Theatre, upon which were exhibited, in the beft manner poffible, the three fineft of the fine arts. Poetry, Mufic, and what they called o^x^r.a-Hy or Dancing; that is, the imitation of manners, fentiments, pafFions, and adions, by the motion of the body to mufic. This muft have been fo fme an entertainment, that I do not wonder they beftowed a confiderable part of the revenue of their flate upon it. They had alfo the pleafure of the other fine arts, fuch as flatuary, painting, and architedure; and, befides all this, they had the enjoyment of philofophy, which was more cultivated in Athens than ever it was in any other part of the world, except Egypt J and which I hold to be the highefl enjoyment that this earth affords. With regard, therefore, to the enjoyment of leifure, I think we may pronounce the Athenians among the happieft people that ever exifted. Vol. IV. O CHAP. io6 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. CHAP. V. Man is not a complete Animal ivbile he is in the Natural Statc^ not having the ufe of In tell eel, — In the Civil fed State he is completely a Man^ and is a Microcofm, having in hiuifelf what- ever is in the Great World. — 7 he Civilijed State liable to many errors. — Thefe errors only to be prevented by his knowing liim- felf. — This knowledge to be learned J'rom books of Antient Phi- lofophy. — By this Learning our Governing Principle is formed,^ How the Government of our Little World is to be carried on^ our Modern Philofophers have not taught us; but it is to be learned in Antient Books. — The governing power does not perform all the operations^ but only dircBs them. — // is chiefly by the Animal Mind that they are performed. — The Organs of it are Nerves^ Mufcles^ Si- news, and Bones — which are all moved by our Mind. — This a wonderful operation of Mind. — Upon the action of our ^Animal Life^ and the motion of our Bodies, depend the operations of the other two Minds, the Vegetable and the Elemental. — To be confidered how the Subjedls of this Kingdom, within our Cloths, obey their Sovereign : Is it willingly or unwillingly P — The Vegetable and Elemental Minds obey without any knowledge of what they do ;-^ but the Ani- ?nal Mind hearkens to rea/on; though it has not reafon in itfelf. — The Animal Mind of the Brute is moved by different defires, and deliberates which of them hefhall comply with. — But the Brute has 71 ot reafon,- and that makes the difference betwixt him and Man, "—If reafon in Man judges wirong, then is the Man ivicked.-^- He is weak., if his reafon does not judge wrong., but is only over- come by his animal defires: — But if bis animal life J ubmits willing- ly, then he is a happy Man, WHILE Chap. V. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 107 WHILE Man is in the natural flate, he is no more than an ani- mal with the capacity only of intelled ; of which he has not the ufe till he enters into fociety, and acquires it hy communi- cation with his fellow creatures. He is then truly a man, and forms that microcofm, or little worlds confiiUng of every thing that is to be found in the great world, namely, body, the animal and vege- table minds, and that mind which is common to all bodies, unorga- nized as well as organized, and which, therefore, is called, by Arif- totle, Nature^ and is what I call the Elemental I^ifid^: And, laftly, in the civilifed ftate he has, in energy and aduality, what before he had only in capacity; I mean the intelledtual mind, which governs in his little world. In this ftate, every man has within his clothes a little kingdom, but which is not eafily governed ; for in civil fociety there are fo many wants and defires, and fo many opportunities, which the civil life furnijQies, of gratifying thofe defires, that our intelledtual mind, or governing Principle, is very often led aftray, not only by our fenfual appetites, but by our notions of the Fair and Beautiful ^ which are fo various, and to be found in fo many different objeds, that we need not wonder that the opinions of men concerning them are fo different, not only in different nations, but in individuals of the fame nation. But of the Beautiful I Ihall fay a great deal more in the fequel. Here I am to inquire by what means thefc errors can be prevented, which we fall into in the civilized life ; and, I fay, this can be done no otherwife than by ftudying diligently the nature of our little world, that is by pradifmg the precept of the Delphic God, and learning to know ourf elves-, which is the beginning of hu- man wifdom. This knowledge we muft learn from books of an- tient philofophy, for we have not any teachers of philoibphy, fuch O 2 as * See vol. 3. of this work, book i. chap. 3, io8 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. as Plato and Ariftotlc ; and if we are to learn only from our own experience and obfervation, or from what our cotemporaries may- have learned in that way, we fhall cither not learn at all, or very imperfedly, and very late in life. By this learning, our governing principle, our intellect, is formed; and when the animal mind is accuftomed to be governed, fo as to fubmit eafily and willingly, then indeed we are kings ; as the Stoicks faid their Sage was *. How this great work is to be brought about, and this kingdom within our clothes to be governed, our modern philofophers have not ftudied, though a mofl important part of the hiftory and philofo- phy of man. What I have learned of the fubjed from antient books, from which I have learned every thing of any value that I know, I fliall give the reader in as few words as I can. The governing power of this kingdom, that is the Intellect, does not itfelf immediately or diredtly perform the operations of the other three minds, the animal, the vegetable, and the elemental, but diredls and fuperintends the operations of them all. Its chief minif- ter is the animal mind, which is the immediate caufe of the motions of our bodies. For it is a great error to imagine, that it is our in- tellectual mind which immediately and diredly moves our bodies j buc it is our animal mind : And the organs or inftruments, which it ufes to perform thefe motions, are, nerves, mufcles, finews, and bones, which make altogether a very complicated machine. And here we may obferve, in our little world, a moft wonderful opera- tion of mind, but which has not been obferved by any philofopher or anatomift. It is this, that by a fmgle a£t of our will, we fet this whole machine a going, and fo move our bodies in what manner we * Ad fumnium {;xpiens uno minor eft Jove, dives, Liber, honoratus, pulcher, rex denique regumj Horat. Lib. i. Epift. i. Chap.V. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 109 we think proper. And thus it appears, that we have withui our- felve?, and in our little world, a proof of the power of mind, which ihould convince the greatefl infidel of V\^hat the fupreme mind may do in the great world. By the motions of our bodies, performed in the manner I have defcribcd, our other two minds are guided and conduded; for up- on the motions of our bodies, external or internal, depend the oper- ations of our vegetable life, by which we grow and are nourifhed, and likewife of our elemental life; for, by thefe motions, our bodies may be put in fuch a pofition as to be affeded by that life, and to be carried either downward, or to right or left in a flraight line, if they are fo impelled. The next thing to be confidered, in this our kingdom, is how the fubjeds obey their fovereign ; Is it from an opinion, that what he orders is right and fit to be done, or is it without any opinion or any knowledge of any kind ? As to the vegetative and elemental minds, it is evident that they have no knowledge, will, or incUna- tion of any kind ; but neceflarily follow the motions of the body, as neceflarily as a ftone falls or as flame afcends. But it is otherwife with the animal mind, for though it have not reafon in itfelf, it can hear- ken to reafon. But it has appetites and defires of its own, by which it is often guided independent of reafon and contrary to reafon*. That not only our animal mind, but the animal mind of the brute, is moved by certain defires, and often by different dufires at the fame time, fo that he deliberates which of them he fhall follow, is a fad that cannot be difputed. Thus a dog deliberates whether he fhall * See, upon this fubjeO, Ariftotle De Morihus, Lib. i. Cap. 13. where be makes the fame diilin(ftioi), that I do, betwixt the anmial and vegetable uunds. no ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book TIL fliall follow his mafter through a rapid river; his love for his mafter inclining him to do it, and on the other hand his fear of the river deterring him from doing it. And hence it is, that fome philofophers, even antient philofophers, have thought that the brutes had intelled: and reafon. But they fhould know that intelled:, and intellect on- ly, forms opinions of what is good or ill, and by thefe opinions is determined to do, or not to do, every thing ; and thus is produced what is called, by the Greeks, voQcci^z(rig'. Whereas the brute has no opinion concerning good or ill, but is guided merely by appetites or defires, inciting him to do, or not to do, certain things ; and in this way we do, or do not, many things, not confidering whether they be good or ill, but prompted only by our animal mind. But the difference betv/ixt us and the brute is this, that we have within us another mind which the brute has not ; I mean the intelledlual mind, w^hich judges of what is good or ill. We have, therefore, in our compofition, two principles of a£lion, the one our intelledl or governing principle, the other our animal nature, which executes every thing, and is the immediate author of all our adions. If the governing principle is wrong in its judgment of what is good or ill, then is the man a iv'ickcd man; and what the animal life executes under the direction of fuch a ruler, is a wicked action. On the other hand, if the judgment of the intelled is right, but our animal mind does not fubmit to be governed by that judgment, but adts in contrariety to it, then the action is not a wicked aich we mufl iorm ideas. If, in this way, we can form what may be called our IntelkBual worlds the man dwelling in fuch a world will enjoy the greateft happinefs that human nature is capa- ble of in this ftate of its exiftence. And it is in this refped: only that our happinefs can be compared with the divine, though infinite- ly inferior to it in degree, as muft be evident to any man who will ftudy that fine account, which Ariftotle has given us, of the happi- nefs of the divine nature *. As this is the nobleft ufe we can make of the higheft faculty we have in our nature, it muft be, of neceflity, the greateft happinefs that our nature is capable of; and it is fuperior even to that which the pradlice of the virtues, called by Ariftotle the Ethical Virtues^ can give us. They are called by Ariftotle Ethical T/V/z/^jf, becaufe they are formed by cujlom and habit, more than by reafon or the exercife of the intelledual faculty. They are well known to be four in num- ber, Prudence^ yujlice^ lemperancCy and Fortitude. At the head of them Prudence is very properly placed, as it is the exercile of our intelled: guiding and direding the exercife of the other three vir- tues ; which, without that diredion, could not properly be called P 2 virtues. * Metaph. Lib. 14. Cap. 7. t Magn. Moralia, Lib. i. Cap. 6, ii6 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. virtues. But as the fubjed of this exercife, of the intelledual facul- ty, is the things of this world, which are tranfitory and contingent, not things eternal and of neceflary exiftence, it is not fuch an oper- ation of our intelligence, as can give that greateft happinefs in this life, of which I am fpeaking. For as it is the contemplation of the greateft beauty, that muft give the greateft pleafure to our intelli- gence, it muft be the contemplation of the things of God and Na- ture, not of the tranfitory things of this world. The pradice of the ethical virtues give no doubt very great plea- fure. But for the pradice of them many things are neceflary, v\hich the contemplative life does not require. In the firft place, there fliould be a well conftituted polity: For, in a diforderly ftate, the ex- ercife of private, any more than of public, virtues, cannot be fuch as it ought to be ; and we muft have money and friends in order to enable us to be generous and beneficent. In fhort, the pradice of thefe virtues muft be, as Ariftotle has told us, in a life which he calls perfedl *. Whereas the philofopher, fuch as I am defcribing, ■ lives within himfelf, and if he has only fortune enough to fupply the neceffaries of life, he ftands in need of nothing external to make him happy. And it is in this way that his happinefs deferves the name which Ariftotle gives it, of divine ; for the happinefs of the Deity is entirely, as Ariftotle has told us, within himfelf; and even the Epicureans faid of the divine nature, that it was Ipfa fuis pollens opibus, nihil indiga noftri. Such a philofopher, therefore, may be faid to live in the other world, even while in this life ; and it was fuch a life that the Alexandrian philoibphers led, particularly Plotinus, of whom I have- fpoken elfe- where +• There * He fays it fliould be irg«§(« «{6ths «w ^it^ rtMia. ■f Vol. 4. of this work, p. 393. Chap.VL ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 117 There is one advantage, among many others, which a man, who lives w4th himfelf, enjoys; and that is independency upon common opinion, which makes the happinefs or mifery of moil men; for, be- ing a philofopher, and confequently knowing himfelf better than he can be known by any other man, he can fay to himfelf, what Ho- race fays to a learned friend, Neque alils de te, plus quam tibi, credere par eft. What I have faid in this chapter upon the fubje£t of happinefs, and particularly that happinefs which is more than human, having fomething divine in it, I have taken, like many other things, from Ariftotle, particularly from the firft fix chapters of his firft book De Morihus; and from the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and loth, chapters of his loth and laft book of the fame treatife ; — from the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, chapters of the firft book of the Magfia Moralia ; and, laftly, from the 7th chapter of his 14th book of Metaphyfics, — Thofe chapters contain the fineft perhaps of all Ariftotle's writings, both for beauty of fentiments and of di(^ion. CHAP. ii8 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IIL CHAP. VII. Beauty is a perfecl'ion of our Intelleci not our Se fifes, — Of the difference betwixt our IntelieSf and our Senfes ; — tbe IntelleEl perceiving only things as they are conne&ed together^ the Senfes only fingle things. "—I'his exemplified in our perception of a man^ ivhom we cannot be faid properly to fee. — What Beauty is. — // is both in one objeEl^ and in fever al objeEls confidered together, - - Beauty in one object^ exempli" fed by the cafe of a fingle Animal^ but which conffs offo many dif- fere?2t parts. — Beauty conffls in order and arrangement ; — the con- trary of which is Dejormity. — Of this we cannot have an Idea, without having at the fame time an Idea of Beauty. — The percep- tion of Beauty is immediate^ as foon as isje perceive order and ar^ rangement in objcEis ; and therefore the perception of it is called a Senfe. — That Beauty is a perception of the Intelledl^ proved by the example of the Brutes who have not that Senfe. — Of the univerfali- ty of the Senfe of the Beautiful among Men. — There is a right and a wrong Senfe of the Beautiful. — The wrong Senfe leads to the greatefl Crimes and Ibices — but the right Senfe to Virtue and to every Good A6llon. — // is the foundation of the principle of Honour^ which is a governing principle among Men. — // makes them def- pife lije^ and chcarfully fubmit to the mof cruel deaths. — Inflances of this among the Hindoos^ — where Men roafl themf elves; — and where Women burn thcmfelvcs with the dead bodies of their Hufbands. — The reafons for thefe facrifices. — Of the penances of the Jougues. — They arift from a principle of Honour^ and from Religion. — Their Women cannot be refrained fnm burning themlelves. — This pro- ceeds from a principle of Honour^ not from their grief for the death of Chap. VII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 119 of their Htifiands. — Memorable faying of a dying Hindoo^ who re- fufed to drink tvine^ which would have cured him,— The Stnfe of the Beautiful dif ingulf jes Man from Brute. — It is the foundation of Love and Friendfip among Men, and not only of Virtue but of Religion. — Without the knowledge of the Beautiful, It Is Impojpble that we can be truly Religious: — Nor, without that knowledge, can we have any Love for Science or the Fine Arts. — There is a Senfc of Beauty even In our Crimes, but a mlftaken one. — // Is fo unlver- faU that it dlre£fs Men In the pradlce of the mof trifling things, fuch as Drefs. — This proved In the example of Julius Ccefar. — // Is to be obferved in a certain degree, even in fome Brute Ani- mals, fuch as the Horfe. — The Author s apology for faying fo much upon the fubjedl of the Beautiful In this Volume, wheji he had f aid fo much of it In a preceding. — // Is afubjeSf treated of by no Modern Phllofopher, except Mr Payley; whereas the Antlent Phllofophy is full of it, — -particularly that of the Stoics, THave faid fo mucli of Beauty in the coiirfe of this work, that, ... in order to explain the nature of it, I will here add a whole chapter upon the fubje he, beauty confifls in greatnefs and in order. His words are, To yoLo zaT^ov sv {^sye^ii fcoci Ta^u scti. And I will add, that the greater the things are in fize or in number, the greater the beauty is, if it be sva-vvQTnovy as he calls it, that is can be readily comprehended in our minds. From what Ariftotle fays here, it is evident that he con- ceived Beauty as I do, not to confift in the perception of a fmgle thing, but of feveral things conneded together ; which connexion we mufl perceive, otherwife we cannot have any idea of Beauty* This is Ariftotle's idea of Beauty, which I have adopted. But I cannot help obferving it as a thing extraordinary, that Ariftotle fhould only have given us a definition of the to ko(,Xoi> in his Poetics, and not in his philofophical work upon Morals, confifting of three parts, the Nicomacheia^ the Magna Moralia^ and the Eudcmia', in each of which he has mentioned the 10 v-^y^ov almoft in every page: For he mentions it in the account he gives of every virtue. As to Plato, he has written a whole Dialogue upon the fubjcd, en- titled Hippias Major) in which he refutes feveral opinions concern- ing the -tq kolXqv^ but gives no opinion of his own ; and concludes Vol. IV. Q^ the * Cap. 16. 122 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book m. the Dialogue with the common Greek proverbial faying, yjtkiTra ici v:^.Xa. And, indeed, from what he has faid of it, one fhould think that the defmition of it was not only difficult but impoffible. This Dialogue, therefore, concludes, like another Dialogue of Plato's upon a moll important fubjed, what fcitncc is; where he only difputes and refutes, but determines nothing. In this manner the moft of the Dialogues of Plato conclude; Whereas Ariftotle, though he propofes doubts upon every fubjed that he treats, (which doubts, I think, illuftrate the fubjed: very much, and lead to the decifion of it; and, therefore, he calls it xot- Xoji a'xo^ri Lib. 5. Cap. 4, CHap. VIII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 143 of his. In thefe he has explained moft accurately all the feveral- fa- culties, difpofitions, and habits, of the human mind, by which our life is conducted. Firjl^ he has divided our mind into two parts, the one which has reafon; and the other which has not; — To zxXov zyov^ xai TO aKoyov *. By that part of our mind which has not reafon, we are to underftand both our animal and our vegetable life: But be- twixt which there is a diftindion, which I have elfew^here made, that the animal mind, though it has not reafon in itfelf, is governed by the reafon of our intellectual mind; whereas the vegetable mind has neither reafon in itfelf, nor liftcns to reafon. As Ariftotle's whole philofophy proceeds by divifion as well as definition, he has, in this cafe, divided the intelledlual or rational part of our mind into two ;-^a divifion, I believe, that is made by no other philofopher. One of thefe parts of our rational mind contem- plates things of neceffary exiftence; the other part things contin- gent, or which may be or not be. As thefe things are different in their nature, it is fit, he fays, that different parts of the rational mind fhould be afTigned to the confideration of them. That part which confiders things of neceffary exiflence, fuch as the theorems of fcience, he calls the ro 'tTriirTijf^ovtKov ; or the fcientific mind^ as we may tranflate it. The other he calls the ro hoyia-rty.ov, or the rd /BovKiu-' Ti%ov ; which confiders contingent things, that may either be or not be ; fuch as the events of human life f. Upon thefe events the /o- giflical part of the human mind deliberates ; for, as Ariflotle fays, we can deliberate upon nothing, which it is certain will happen or not happen. The refult of this deliberation is 5r^oa/^g^ri ^pog to k-.Xov, is more the princi- ple of virtue than X070?, or reafon ; for, fays he, in the practice of virtue, the ^coyt^n muft begin and carry on the pradice, while reafon only direds and approves; it is therefore the leading principle f. The next branch of philofophy that Ariftotle has given us, is Po- litics ; a fcience which he has treated in a manner very difterent from that in which it is treated by Plato, who has made of it a matter of mere fpeculation, and more a pleafant fidion, I think, than a thino- of ufe or pradice. But Ariftotle has made altogether a prac- tical fcience of it; and has formed his fyftem of it from the exam- ples of different ftates, whofe forms of government, and their fe- veral changes and revolutions, he appears to have ftudied moft diligently. And here he fhows a wonderful knowledge of hiftory, fuch * Lib. 2. cap. 7. verf. fin. ■f- See what I have faid upon this fubjeft, in the preface to vol. 3. p. xxxiv. where I have fhown. that the Pythagoreans made the t# x«A«y, or principle of virtue, to be a kind of pafHon or enthufiafm. Chap. IX. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 157 fuch as could not have been expeded from a man who had appli- ed fo much to philofophy, and fuch as proves him, I think, to have been a man of more univerfal knowledge, than perhaps any man that ever exifted. The next w^ork of Ariftotle, I fhall mention, is his Natural Phi- lofophy; in treating which, he has made a diftindion, that is not commonly made by our modern philofophers, betwixt the hiftory and the fcience or philofophy of nature. Under the firft of thefe heads, we have an. admirable work upon the lubjedt of animals where there is fuch a coUeiliion of facts, as he could not have made without the alTiftance that he got from his pupil Alexander the Great ; and to which the modern difcoveries, great as they arc, have not been able to add much. Of the philofophy of nature he has treated in a work altogether diftin(5l, which he has entitled uK^oao-et; cgTa/3ct- i66 ■ ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IIL 7Jx,)i ; by which the mind pafles from one idea to another, compares them together, forms propofitions and fyllogifms, and makes what is called fc'ience. This diftindlion, betwixt that operation of our intelled, by which we form our ideas, and the difcurfus mentis^ by which we compare them together, and reafon upon them, is not made by any of our modern philofophers: And yet, without it, we cannot know what man is, according to Ariftotle*s definition of him ; which is that of an animal capable of intelleEl aud fcience^ in Greek vqm koli i'Tna-rrjy.rig hxTiKov: Meaning by vovg^ that firft opera- tion of the intelledl, by which it forms ideas j and by i-TCtarrifjt.riy that operation of the intelled:, by which it compares its ideas, and forms what we call fc'ience^ and which the Greeks very properly called iitiirn^ri^ as the mind then ftands ftill as it were, having finifhed the operations upon its ideas. To fhow us what is truth or fcience, is the profelTed defign of Ariftotle's Logic ; and, therefore, it fliould be confidered as preparatory to the ftudy of philofophy and of all arts and fciences, the bufmefs of which is to Invefligate truth and to demonftrate. We have but one book in Englifh upon the fubjed of Logic, Mr Locke's eflay upon the Human Underftanding, in two volumes ; where he has faid a great deal upon Ideas, but little or nothing upon the difcurfus mentis^ by which ideas are compared together, and of them propofitions and fyllogifms formed. He has, in the courfe of his work, mentioned propofitions; but he does not appear to me to have known what a propofition was ; for he no where makes the diftindion betwixt the praedicate, or attribute of a pro- pofition, and the fubjcd of it. Now, without making that diftinc- tion, it is impofTible to know what a propofition is : For, in every propofition, there muft be fomething affirmed or denied ; and that makes the Praedicate of the propofition: And there muft alfo be fomething of which the praedicate is affirmed or denied ; and that is Ctap. X. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 167 13 the Subjedl of the propofition. And as to fylloglfm, I do not re- member that, in either of his two volumes, he has fo much as men- tioned the word; or, if he has named it, I am fure he did not un- derftand it. He has, however, told us what truth is, that it is the perception we have of the agreement or difagreement of our ideas. If the reader is fatisfied with this account of truth, he will think that Ariftotle has employed his time very ill in writing, upon the fubje^t, all the books that I have mentioned*, making altogether a con- fiderable volume ; and he will pity me (if he does not defpife me) for having beflowed fo much time and fludy in explaining thofe books, when I ought to have been fatisfied with what Mr Locke has told us in fo few words. I fhould agree with him if I could be convinced that any art or fcience could be perfedtly well pradtifed by any perfon by mere cuftom and habit, without having learned the principles of the art. That the art of language cannot be fo pradifed, and that no man can be fure that he fpeaks corredly with- out having learned the grammatical art, muft be allowed. Now, that the exercife of the difcurfive faculty of the mind, or what we call reafoning^ is an art, and a very great art, being the foundation of all arts and fciences, cannot be denied: And, therefore, I fay that no man, by mere cuftom or habit, by w^hich, and which only, moft men reafon as well as fpeak, can be fure that he reafons well ; nor can he corred himfelf, or any other man, when he reafons ill, without having learned the art of reafoning. Though Mr Locke has faid fo little of that faculty of the mind, by which we compare our ideas, and form of them reafoning and argu- ment, he has faid a great deal concerning ideas themfelves; and, I think, they are a neceflary part of Logic, as they are the materials of propofi- tions,of fyllogifms,and of all our knowledge. Of ideas I propofe to treat in this chapter; which is the more neceffary, that, though Ariftotle has made * Page 161. i68 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IIT. in?de thefe univerfal ideas, upon which he has written his book of Categories, the foundation of his whole fyftem of Logic, yet he has not told us what the nature of an idea is, nor how it is formed; nei- ther has Porphyry, in the Introdudion which he has written to Ariftoile's Logic, faid a word upon the fubje£t. I will therefore en- deavour to fupply this defe^hich, I think, fufficient attention has not been given by philofophers antient or modern, though it has great influence upon our ideas, and is very ufeful in forming them. The faculty I mean is, what is called in Greek (pctiroca-iu, and in Englifli imagi?iatio?i. It is a faculty which the brutes have as well as we, and which is abfolutely neceiTary for carrying on their animal oeconomy, as I have fhown *. By tliis faculty the images or pidures, as they may be called, of the objeds, which we have at fome time or another perceived by our fenfes, are again prefented to us. It may, therefore, be called a fecon- dary fenfe, fupplying the place of the primary, and often making a greater imprefhon upon us than the primary. This faculty of the Phantafia^ v/hich preferves our fenfations, fhould be diilinguifhed from Memory^ which is the cuftodie^ of our ideas ; and, as from our fenfations our firft ideas arife, it was ht that there fhould be a cuftodier for each of them. And our fenfations thus preferved, are of very great ufe to us in forming thofe firfl ideas of particular objeds of fenfe; for unlefs they were retained in the. mind by the phantafia, we could only form thofe ideas when the objeds of fenfe were prefent v/itli us; and as that cannot alwa-^ ' we could not form them fo accurately as we do by the mc : ■ the phantafia. * See Vol. I. of this work, Book 2. Chap. 5. p. 90. iy6 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IIL The phantafia is necefTary for carrying on our animal oeconomy as well as that of the brute ; for othcrwife neither we nor the brute couki have known that any objea, we fee;, was the fame that we had feen before j as it is by comparing the objed, w^e fee, with the image of it in the phantafia, that we difcover the famenefs. But it ferves, as I have faid, another purpofe ; which is to enable us to form» better than we could do otherwife, our firft ideas, that is, our ideas of particular objeas: And in general it maybe obferved, that both our fenfations, and the images of them in our phantafia, are not only neceffary for our animal life, but providence has fo ordered matters, that they are made fubfervient to the noblefl: faculty of our mind ; I mean our intellea : For it is by them that we are enabled to form ideas, and of ideas to make arts and fciences, by w^hich we become creatures of intellea, not only in capacity but ac- tually fuch. There is one difference to be obferved betwixt us and the brute with regard to the phantafia. The brute makes no ufe of his phan- tafia, but when the objeds there imaged are prefented again to his fenfes ; or w^hen there is a certain inftind belonging to his nature, prompting him to inquire concerning thefe objeds and to find them out ; as in the cafe of a mother with regard to her offspring, or a herding animal with regard to his herd. But man, without being prompted in either of thefe ways, or by any thing external, exa- mines the objeds pidured in his phantafia, and compares them to- gether, and in that way difcovers that in which they are like or dif- ferent. And what makes man do this, without being excited by any external obj^d, is that love of knowledge which is effential to his nature, and without which it is impoffible that he could have acquired the knowledge he has acquired. And this motive, to the examination of objeds of fenfe painted in his phantafia, may be af-. cribed to inftind in him, as well as the motives which, I have faid, excite Chap. X. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 177 excite the brute to confider the objeds in his phantafia. And this inftindive impulfe is, as Ariftotle has obferved, univerfal among men, and eflentiai to every intelligent animal: For knowledge is the pbjed, and the only objed of intelled ; and to know is its only de- light. This faculty of the phantafia, though fo ufeful both to the animal and intelledual life, no philofopher, antient or modern, has taken any notice of, except Ariftotle in his treatife De Anima^ which I have quoted in the above mentioned volume of this work*. What I have hitherto faid of particular ideas, and of the forma- tion of general ideas from them, relates only to objedts of fenfe. But our ideas of mind, and of its different kinds, are formed in the fame way, beginning with ideas of particular minds, firft thofe of our own minds, and then proceeding to general ideas of mind, as I have (hown in volume 2. of this work f . I will here make an obfervation, which I think of great im- portance in Logic and in all reafoning. It is this, that particular ideas are contained in the general, and are parts of them. This will be evident to any man who attends to the way in which gene- ral ideas are formed, which is by coUeding and putting together the particular ideas which compofe the general. Thus the particular ideas of man^ horfe^ dog^ l5fc. when colleded together, and made one of many^ (the definition, given by Plato, of a general idea,) con- ftitute the general idea oi animal ; which, therefore, muft neceflari- ly contain the ideas of all particular animals that make up the fum of that one of many ^ as necelTarily as a pound of money contains fo many fliillings. This propofition, which I have endeavoured to make fo plain, Vol. V. Z fliows ♦ Page 91. f Page 89. lyS ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IIL fhows the relation betwixt the praedicate and fubje<£t of every propo- firion; which is that of the Subjed of the proportion, or lefTer term, being contained in the Praedicate or greater term: And it is the foun- dation of all demonftration and reafoning of every kind; for the truth of the fyllogifm is, as I have faid, founded upon this plain propofi- tion, that if A contain B, and B contain C ; then A contains C. And as the general ideas contain the particular, fo thefe are derived from the general, being fubftraded from them in the fame manner as a lefler number is fubftraded from a greater. As I have mentioned Memory in this chapter, I will fay fome- thing more upon it before I conclude the chapter. It is, as I have faid, the repofitory and cuftodier of our ideas, and of the propofitions- and reafonings we form from thofe ideas, in the fame manner as the phantafia preferves our perceptions of objeds of fenfe. Memory is of fuch importance, that without it we could make no progrefs in arts or fciences, nor indeed could any art or fcience have been invented ; fo that it was not without reafon that the antient mythologifts made Me- mory the mother of the mufes, and Jupiter, the God of Intelligence and Council [fjurirnvu zevg, as he is called in Homer) their father j as it is by memory and intelligence that all arts and fciences were invented and cultivated. But even by our memory we could not have made any confiderable progrefs in arts or fciences without the writing art ; for as all our faculties, in this ftate of our exif-^ tence, are more or lefs imperfed, fo is our memory : And it is fo particularly in old age, when having acquired fo much know- ledge, in the courfe of perhaps a long life, we Ihould be able to make ftHl muck greater advances in arts and fciences. Now, the writing art is then of the greateft ufe ; for though it be not an art of memory^ it is, as the wife Egyptian King obferved, an art of re- minijccnce^y by which we fupply the defeds of memory, if, there- fore, ♦ Plato in PhctJro, p. 1 240. edit. Fieini. See what I have faid on this fubjed in \cl. 2. of Oi-iein of Langunge, p. 24. Chap. X. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 179 fore, we commit to writing what difcoveries we have made in know- ledge in our younger days, we will reap the benefit of it when wc become old. This is an advantage which I enjoy in my old age ; when I may be faid to live by the learning which I colleded and put down in wrhing in my younger days. It is by writing, as I have elfewhere obferved, that men, living in the mod diftant coun- tries, communicate their learning to one another j and that the learning, even of the moft diftant ages, is tranfmitted to the prefent generation*; and, indeed, without this wonderful art of prefervino- the difcoveries of arts and fciences, we fhould have had no learuino* in this age of any value. And here I will conclude this chapter^ in which, I think, I have ihown the progrefs of our ideas from particular ideas, that is ideas of objeds of fenfe, to the moft general ideas, which, by Ariftotle are called the roc ovruy by way of eminence and diftindion, as they not only exift as other ideas do, but, by being the moft general, contain in them all other ideas ; and thefe he makes the fubjed of his Me- taphyfics, which, he fays, treat of the roc ovra, 'p ovrcc. By thefe laft words he informs us, that he confidered them not as the terms of propofitions and fyllogifms, the way in which he confiders them in his treatife of Categories prefixed to his Logic, but as exifting in the nature of things, unconneded with propofitions or fyllogifms, or with any operation of the human mind. But I have not yet done with ideas, which, as they are the foun- dation of all arts and fciences and of all our knowledge, ought to be moft carefully confidered by the philofopher; for, in the next chap- ter, I propofe to treat of a fubjed well known among the philofo- phers of the Platonic and Ariftotelian fchools, but not known at all among our modern philofophers ; I mean t^e ideas of Plato, who 2; 2 has * Vol. 4. of this Work, p. 262. i8o ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IlL has given us a fyftem of ideas, which, if rightly underflood, I think is moft valuable, as it Ihows that the univerfe is a fyftem, and a moft "wonderful fyftem, and that our ideas are not fidions, and merely the operation of the human mind, but are real entities exifting in nature and diffufmg themfelves over all the univerfe. And, in that chapter, 1 will compare Ariftotle's fyftem of ideas with that of Plato, and fhow how much better the fyftem of the Mafter is than thai of the Scholar* CHAP. Chap. XT. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. r§c CHAP. XI. ^at Plato and Artjlotle differed on the SubjeEl of Ideas ^ proved hj Ph'doponus and by Arijlotlei own ivritings. — The attempt to recon- eUe the two PhHofophers, founded on a mi/reprefentation of their Doc- trines. — Plato s Ideas immaterial fuhfances^ — having afeparate ex- iflence. — Arijlotle fo underjlood them^ and argues againjl them ;— difiked ihe word Idea. — Plat6*s word Idea adopted, but not his DuEirine: — Arifiotlt' s the univerfal opinion in modern times.-- Indi- vidual things only exijTtfig according to him; — General Ideas, fuch as Genus and Species, are Creatures of the Human Underfanding. bein^ only different ways of clajjing and arrangmg things, — hiconfflcncy of his Logic with this opinion; — truth and Science can have no fouU" dation in Nature ; — Ideas are mere Entia Rationis, as much as a Hippocentaur. — Arijlotle maintains, that from Generals are derived Particulars : — Incofifjlency of this opinion, with the DoHrine that Generals do not exid. — I/ all things be Inaividuals, they mu/i be immediately derived from tbe frji caufe ;— No progrejfion or Jub- ordination in Nature; — the Individuals of the AuimaL Vz^rcta- hle^ and Mineral Kingdoms, have proreeded immediately from him ;—-'the Ideas of all Particular things are in the Divine Mind- '-—but it can have no General Ideas /uch as we have. — This im- pious,— Or, if the Divine Mind have fuch Ideas, we muH maintain that he colleSis them, as we do, from the particular fenfble objeBs, - — If they were originally in the Divine mind, can we believe that ihey have no exijlence in Nature, entire and undivided ; but that- mly parts of them exiji incorporated with matter, — and thefe pro- ceeding 582 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. ceeding without order or fubordhiation? — Gregory Nazianzens opt* nion adopted by the jiutbor.— According to that Philofopher^ all the Ideas of the Divine Mind realifed. — nis the fiihlimejl Theology; — -it gives us, if pojjible, the Idea of Plato's onoi *vre^ovvas kept by Plato, ev x5ro^»Ta<;, that is, as a fecrety it was known to the philofophers of the Alexandrian fchool, particivlarly to Porpl^yry, from whofe writings Cyrillus has given us a quotation, which contains the whole docb-ine of the Three Perfons of the Trinity. Chap. XL ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 191 it muft be formed by Intelligence, which, as it is the principal thing in the formation of the fyftem, very properly holds the fecond place next to the firfl; caufe, or author of the fyftem. The third conftituent principle of the fyftem, is the 'Trvsjfjt^cc ^ayiov, or Ho/y Spirit, By the Platonic philofophers it is called very properly •J/u^jj rov y.-^cy^ov, or a?uma miindi^ as from it is derived that anima- tion, motion, and adtion, which makes the whole of nature a living fyjlem. This principle, in beings intellectual, is what we call will ; in the animal life it is what we call appetite or /^^^r*?, producing the motions of the animal ; in the vegetable kingdom it is that life^ by which things grow, are nourifhed, and are reproduced ; and in mi- nerals, and other things, which are commonly faid to be inanimate, it is the principle of motion, or the element alii fe^ as I call it, and which by Ariftotle is faid to be a kind of life^ or y'^X'^ '^'^' ^^ ^*^ exprelTes it; by which he means, that, as it produces motion, it fo far refembles the animal and vegetable lives, tiiough different from them in other ref- peds, having neither fenfation, appetite, growth, nourilhment, nor reprodudtion : But it is a more general life than either that of the animal or vegetable ; for it moves all bodies unorganifed as well asi organifed *. Thefe three principles of the intelledual world, though diftind fubftances, make but one Being. And thus we have the three in onc^ and the one in three; and the unity of the Godhead perfectly pre-- ferved. Nor, indeed, without fuch union, could we have any con- ception of the Deity: For we could not conceive a Deity without intelligence, nor without a fpirit of life and animation j without both which he never could have produced the univerfe : Neither can we conceive a Supreme Being, who produces nothing: So that bath intel- ligence; * See what I liave faid of this kind cf life, which is fo univerfal in nature, that Ariftotle gives it the name of N^ifurc, in vol. 2. of this work, p. o^o. and In voL 5. of Origin of Language, p. 421. and the pafT^igcs there referred to. 192 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. Tigence a:id animation are elTential to his nature. That three diftind fubftances {hould make but One be'nig, appears, I know, to many, an inconceivable myftery. But it will not appear fo to a philofopher, who confiders that the Second Perfon \s potentially^ or virtually con- tained in the Firft, otherwife he could not be produced out of him : And if fo, the Second Perfon muft contain in him the Firft a&ually; and the fame muft be the cafe of the Third Perfon, with refped to the Second. And this is illuftrated by the progrelTion, which Logic teaches us, of the fpecies from the genus ; for the genus virtually contains the fpecies, which is produced out of it, and the fpecies adiually contains the genus. Thus, for example, the genus animal •virtually contains the fpecies tnan^ which otherwife could not be produced out of it : But the fpecies man aSlually contains the genus animal without which we could not conceive man to exift. Now, when things are fo connedted together, that one of them contains the other, and is alfo contained in that other, they are very properly confidered to be fo intimately conneded, as to make but one being: And this is the cafe of every genus, and of all the fpeciefes under it, hov/ever many in number; fo that there we have the many in the one^ and the one in the many. And the only difference betwixt the Tri- nity, and the common cafe of genus and fpecies, is, that the Trinity bei'n'j- limited to the conftituent principles of the univerfe, which are only three^ there is there no more than three in one^ and o?te in three. So that what appears at firft fight to be an incomprehenfible vnyftery, is to be found in the whole fyftem of the univerfe, which is all divided into genufes and fpecies: And, therefore, this dodrine of the Three in One, and the One in Three, however incompre- henfible and paradoxical it may at firft fight appear, is truly a part, and an effential part, of the whole fyftem of the univerfe. In this manner is Logic conneded with Theology and the fyftem of the univerfe; to both which, I am perfuaded, a good Logic diredly lea lis. GKap. XI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 193 leads. And It is very naairal it ihould do fo; for, as Logic expliuns the operations of the human mind in forming ideas, which make a kind of intelledtual world in man, and, as man is the image of God here below, it is very natural that there fhould be an anology betwixt the produQions of his mind and thofe of the Divine. « But, if the reader has not ftudied Logic fufficiently, this illufira- tion of the dodrine of the Trinity, which Logic affords, wili not to him be convincing. I would, therefore, advife him to lludy him- felf, and to learn to know hlmjelf ; which, according to the fay.ng of the feven wife men of Greece, and to the infcription upon the ga e of the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, is the beginning of all wifdom. Now, if he knows him/elf^ he will know that he has, within his cloaths, three diftinft fubftances, which make but one man ; ttic in- tellectual, the animal, and the vegetable : i f v/hich three every fmgle individual man is compofed ; fo that of the three there io but one being, nor without any one of the three could we conceive him to be man. And here we may obferve, what I have taken notice rf clfe- where*, how imperfect St Auguftine's notion of the Trinity w >, when he fays that there were not Three Perfons only in the Trinitv but that there might be any other number : Whereas it is evident that three conftituent principles or efficient caufes of the univerfe on- ly could be, viz. the Firft Perfon of the Trinity, the Author of tiie whole univerfe; 2^/, Intelligence, the firft production from the Fn-ffc Caufe, and the Second Perfon of the Trinity ; and, j^/, the Principle of Life or Animation, produced from the Second Perfon, and who is the Third Perfon. Now, let us confider how the ideas of Plato agree with the f f- VoL. V. B b tem * Vol. 4. p. 392. 194 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IIT. trm of the Univcrfe as it is contained in the dodrine of the Trinity? And I fc\j that they are a fequel or continuation of that dodlrine, Ihowing the progrefs of it through all the Beings of the univerfe. According to the fyilein of the univerfe, contained in that doc- trine, all things are not immediately from the Firft Caufe, or Cauje of Ca/tfes^ as Ariftotle expreifes it, but med ately through the other Two Perfons, the Second of which is faid to be the only begotten if the F'lrfl Caife^ or of the Father^ as he is called : And from the Second Perfon is produced the Third, that is the Holy. Spirit. Now, the firft produdion of the Firft Caufe is undoubtedly a real being or fubftance ; and fo is the produdion of the Third Perfon ot^ the Trinity from the Second. From thefe two Perfons of the Trinity Plato carries on the produdion of all the other beings of the univerfe, by his ideas, which are all immaterial fubftances^ having likewife an exiftence by themfelves. And as all the beings in the univerfe have in them either intelligence, or a principle of life and animation, or both, it is evident, that they muft be all de- rived from one, or other, or both of thefe principles. The firft ideas derived from them muft be ideas the moft general, and con- fequently the moft excellent, as containing in them all other ideas. From them are produced ideas lefs general; and fo on from genus to fpecies, down to the loweft fpeciefes, from which proceed the ideas that are incorporated with body, as I have defcribed the pro- grefs in a preceding part of this chapter*; fo that here the whole fyftem of the univerfe is carried on, as the progrefs of it is given us in the dodrine of the Trinity, by beings that have each a real and feparate exiftence, and the more excellent producing the lefs ex- cellent. From what is above faid, it is evident that, in the Trinity, there is a proceffion, or emanation, from the Firft Perfon, or Author of the ^ Page 186. and 187. Chap. XI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 19; the univerfe, frft to the Second Perfon, and then from the Second Perfon to 'he Third ; and it is alfo evident, that the Second PerO^n is not only the firft produ6lion, but the onlv immediate produdioa from the Firft Perfon: So that all things in the univerfe mull be produced from the Second and Third Perfons of the Trinity. And the only queftion that remains to be confidered is, Whe- ther all things exifting proceed immediately from thofe two prin- ciples ; or whether there be not an intermediate proceffion and emanation by different fteps and degrees, in the fame manner as thofe two principles proceed from the firft caufe. And I think it is evident, that if this were the cafe, the iyitcm of the uni- verfe would be much m.ore regular and uniform, than u^)cn the contrary fuppofition. Now, as every theift muft believe that the univerfe is a fyftem, and the moft perfed fyftem that can be ima- gined, I think we muft hold that inch is the progrefs of things, from the firft caufe downwards, unlefs the contrary could be proved by the cleareft demonftration ; of which I have hitherto itcw nothino-. not even in the writings of Ariftotle, whofe chief argument agalnft it is, that it multiplies Beings unnejeffarily, and that it does not explain any thing in nature. But I fay it does not multiply Beings unnecef- farily, as it tends to eftablifli the certainty of knowledge, and makes the fyftem of the univerfe more perfed ; and fo far from not ex- plaining the nature of things, it completes the fyftem of nature, by carrying the dodrinc of the Trinity, which contains the firft prin- ciples of things, through the whole of nature, and fo making one fyftem of the univerfe. The moft general ideas, fuch as the Categoric^ being produdive of all other ideas, are firft in order after the Perions of the Trinity. In the more general ideas the lefs general and the particular are contained; and while they are fo contained, they are faid to exift virtually in them, as the materials of which they are compofed exift B b 2 in io5 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. In ^be .^e'^-cral ideas ; but after they are produced, then they are faid to ryWX o.^.tially: And as the whole univerfe confifts of beings that produce ind are produced, this diftindion, of virtual and a^ual ex- igence, goes through the whole fyftem of nature. This produdion, of lefs general ideas from more general which contain them, may be very properly called generation : For the nature of generation is, that the being which generates pro- duces out of itfelf what is generated; and, accordingly, the term begotten^ or generated^ is very properly applied to the Second and Third Perfons of the Trinity, which are produced, the one from the Firft Caufe of all things, and the other from the Second Caufe. And here we may obferve the analogy that there is betwixt the proceffion of ideas from one aaother, and the proceflion in the Perfons of the. Trinity. And not only is this fyflem of ideas perfectly agreeable to the dodtrinc of the Trinity, but it alfo agrees wuth one of the moft ancient pieces of philofophy that is preferved to us, I mean the work of the Pythagorean philofopher, Timxus the Locrian, de- anima mundi ; which fhows, what I fhould otherwife have believ- ed, that Pythagoras learned this dodrine of ideas in Egypt, as well as Plato. Timxus fays, " That all things in the material world are compofed of matter and ideas ; which two, joined together, make what is called body.''' Now, if ideas were nothing elfe but what Arif- totle makes them, that is, creations of our minds, they could not,, with any propriety, be faid to be any part of the compofition of the material world. But what is decifive in the cafe, he calls them ovtrioui, that is fuhJla7Kes ; a term that cannot apply to beings which have no exlftence by themfelves but exift only in the minds of men, fuch as the ideas of Ariftotle. And it may be obferved, that, in this pair?^ge of Tiraxus, the word ihx^ though not ufed by Ariflotle, except Chap. XI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 197 except in difpiiting with Plato, is ufed by this Pythagorean philofo- pher; fo that Plato did not invent the word, but took it from the Pythagorean fchool, and perhaps the dodrine alfo, if he did not iearn it in Egypt. What I know will ipake many people doubt of this dodrinc of ideas begetting ideas, is tue difficulty of conceiving how one imma- terial fubftance fliould beget another. But the fame difficulty oc- curs in the doctrine of the Trinity, according to which the Second Perfon is faid to be begotten of the Firft ; and in the fame way wc muft fuppofe the Third Perfon to be produced from the Second. And my anfvver to the diiFiculty is, \mo^ That natural generation is as dif- ficult to be accounted for, as this fpiritual generation. And even in it I hold that there is a generation of the mind as well as of the body : For I cannot believe that there is a new creation of a mind for every body that is generated, but that the mind is continued by generation, and proceeds from the mind of the parent, or pa- rents, as much as the body of the offspring does. But, idly^ Every man, who is a theift, mud believe that all inferior intelligences, and, in general, all minds, of every kind, proceed mediately from the great fource of being, and immediately from the two principles above men- tioned, viz. the fecond and third perfons of rhe Trinity. We muft not, however, conceive, that the iubftance, from which the fpiritual offspring proceeds, is any how leffeaed or i.npaired by that produc- tion; which is the cafe in the generation of body: But we muft fup- pofe, that the three great principles of nature are no more Icilened or impaired by all the emanations from them, than the fun appears to be by the conftant emiirion of rays for fo manv thoufands of years, or than a feal is by an impreffion that is made from it. And what I fay of the three great principles of the univcrfc, I extend al- fo to the ideas of Plato : And I fay, what Plato has faid, that, by communicating thcmfelves to fuch an infinite number of things, they ftill prefcrve the integrity of their natures, without being leffen- ed, i9^« ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. BooV TIL ed. Impaired, or divided: But the matter, wit-h which the emanation from them is incorporated, muft necelTarily make a great difference ol individuals ; in the Tame manner as the wax, upon which the fig- nature of a leal is iinprefled, muft make a great difference of the dif- ferent impreffions. By this generation of ideas, we can eafily folve the difficulty, which, it appears from Hato, the philoi(>phers of hi- time had, How the many in one lliould be joined together in the fame idea \ And Plato him- feif Ipeaks of his ideas, as being moft myiterious things ; " which,'* fays he, '' prelerving the unity and fimplicity of their natures, run through and mix with various fubitances and forms, comprehend- ing and binding together thmgs of natures feemingly moft diffe- rent*," And, indeed, I ftiould think this an incomprehenfible myf. tery, if I thought that it was the fame individual idea that went through a higher genus, and all the inferior genufes and fpeciefes and even individuals, but ftill continuing one and the fame idea. But, if we fuppofe that ideas, being immaterial fubftanccs, produce one another, the more excellent the lels excellent, in the fame man- ner as the Perfons of the Trinity do, the difficulty is removed. And here we mav obferve, that the ideas of Plato, conne£Ved wirh the doiiic, bii^ bv rhr inrervemion of the Second Perion. Ariftotlcs dodiine of ideas, ther.uM- -eilroys en- tirely' Chap. XI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 201 tirely that progrefTion of things from the Firft Caufe, and that fiib- ordinatlon of lower things to higher, witho-t which we cannot con- ceive order or regularity in any lyftem. It is, I think, the more furprifing, tl.at he Ihould deny exiftence of thofe ideas, or minds, by themfelves, when he acknowledges that there are fo many minds in the univerfe, animating not only animals and vegetables, but bo- dies that are commonly thought to be inanimate, fuch as ilones and minerals, and direding their motions ; fo that a llonc does not tail to the ground otherwife than by the adiion of the mind that is in it. And this muft be the cafe, unlefs we are to fuppofe that body moves itfelf by a vis infita^ as Sir Ifaac Newton maintains; and not only is that idea, or mind, in every body, the principle of motion in that body, but it gives it its form, and makes it what it is. Now, it appears to me very extraordinary, that thofe minds ihould exift only in matter and not by themfelves. Our intelledtual mind, Ariftotle acknow- ledges, has a feparate exiftence; and it never is in fo great perfedtion, he fays, as when it exifts in that way. Now, why fhould not even inferior minds have alio a feparate exiftence? Every mind, however inferior to our intelledtual mind, is of a nature fuperior to matter : And, if fo, it muft appear very extraordinary, if it has not, as well as matter, an exiftence by itfelf. This would be to degrade mind even below matter, and to fuppofe a thing, of which there is no other example in the univerfe; I mean a thing which has no ex- iftence by itfelf, but only in conjunction with other things. — liuc to return to Plato's dodtrine of ideas. It is not only necefTarily connedled with the dodlrine of the Tri- nity, but, I think, it is alio connedled with his uodinxie ot :\\ oar knowledge being nothing more than rcmini/cencc. Tnat the Can. tun doctrine of the Fall of man, as well as that of the rrinity, was incua- tained by Fla'-o, though not by Ariftotle, is evident from lus writ- ings*. And upon that hypothefis, 1 think it is necclDry, tha wiiat Vol. V. C c knowlcu^^e * See p. 385. and 2oc. of this vol. 202 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. knowledge we attain in this life, mud be of the kind that Plato fup- pofes : For as tlie tendency of our progrefs in this life is to reftore us to what we had loft by the fall, fo every thing we acquire in this life is no more than regaining what we loft by our fall: And, there- fore, if all the knowledge we acquire here was new knowledge, we could not be faid, fo properly, to be rejiored to the former ftate, as to be recreated; and there would be fomething, of which we ob- ferve no other inftance in nature, I mean a thing, that once exifted, being entirely loft and annihilated. This argument, I know, will appear to many too metaphyfical, and too fiir fetched. I will, therefore, give another, which comes nearer to the point, and, I think, is abfolute demonftration. It is taken from the nature of knowledge and of learning. A man can only learn who is ignorant. Now, ignorance is of two different kinds ; for either we are ignorant altogether, and were fo from the beginning, never having known the thing ; or wc once knew the thing, but have forgot it, and fo are ignorant of it. If the hrft were the cafe, we never could learn any thing in this life, unlefs by infpiration ; for all learning, whether w^e teach ourfclves or teach others, muft proceed from fomething that we or they knew before, but which may have been forgotten; for here the maxim will apply^ ex nih'ilo nihil fit. If, therefore, we have not, nor ever had, any knowledge, we can learn nothing. Now this knowledge, which we thus recover when we firft come into the world and begin to cul- tivate arts and fciences, we muft have had in another ftate of our exiftence, but have loft or forgotten it. By this knowledge, thus recovered, we form ideas, and perceive that thofe ideas reprefent to us the nature of the thing we want to knovv: And, further, it is by this reminifcence, or recovered know- ledge, that we perceive the tiuth of axioms. By the fame fore- knowledge. Chap.'XT. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 203 knowledge, when we cannot perceive irnmediatc^ly tlie connexion of ideas, as we do in the cafe of axioms, we diicover a tliird idea, by which we connect them to^>ether : And this is what we call reafrn- ing or fyllogizing ; the art ot which Anlloile has explained bet.cT than any other phiioiopher, and has made or it a wondcrri'ul iylji.rn of fcience ; and which, like all good philofophy, is, as I hav? r- ferved, conneded with Theology; ior it explams to us rbe v (^ .. by which we are enabled fo far to regain our former Hate cvcii in this life. This fyftem of prefcience and reminifcence very v/ell accounts for the facility with which we learn; of which Plato has given us a fine example in the Mcno. For having known the thing before, when the image of it is prefented to us, (for things on this e..rth are, as 1 have obferved, no more than the images of the ideas, o» tiie r x. evTc>}i on a,) we immediately recognife it as we do the face of an oid acquaintance, when we fee his portrait : Whereas, if we had n^ver feen or known the perion, we never could divine whole poi trait it was. And here we may obferve how properly the wlfdom and good- nefs of God has contrived that, in this our ftate of probation, we fhculd be able to recover the knowledge we had loft. By our 1 .11 we loft the ule of intelled ; a very natural puniftunent for haviiig abufed it fo much as to fancy ourfelves to be Gods: But we relum- ed the capacity, or power, of accpiiring it; and we now acquire it, and become poflefted of it in energy or aduaUry, by tiie means of our fenfes, which are converfant with corporeal fonr^s, the images, as I have faid, of the pure intelledual forms. The capacity, which we have ftlll retained, of acquiring intelled, we exercife upon ihofe outward forms in which the idea is lutcat, and as it were overlaid C c 2 with 204 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IIL v'ith mntter, from which we are obliged to difengage it, and to finv^le it out as we would do a friend or old acquaintance out of a crcuLl ; for, in this world, all things are fo mixed with all things, as an antient philofopher ohferved, that it requires a great deal of accuracy and attention to fmgle any one idea out of a great ma- ny, and to prefent it to the mind by itfelf. And, indeed, I fhould think it inipoffible, that a creature, with only the capacity of intel- lect, fhould be able, even with the affiftance of his fenfes, to difcover the ideas of things wrapt up, as they are, with the integuments of matter, and to put them together fo as to form arts and fciences, without the aid of reminifcence. Having mentioned intellect and fenfe, as two faculties of the mind quite diftind, as diftinct as what is perceived by them, namely, ideas and perceptions of fenfe, it may not be improper, for the fake of thofe who know nothing of philoibphy, except from what they have read in Mr Locke, who plainly confounds ideas and fenfations, to explain, in few words, the difference betwixt fenfe and intelled: : And, I fay, they are fo different, not only in the manner of their operation, but in the objed:s upon which they operate, that what the one perceives the other does not perceive; for fenfe does not perceive ideas, which are the objeds of intelled:, any more than in- teiled perceives the objeds of fenfe, that is the qualities of bodies ; For a blind man, let his intelled be ever fo perfed, cannot perceive colours, any more than a deaf man can hear founds. And again as the fenfe cannot perceive the idea of any individual thing, but only the material form, far lefs can it gencralife or form the idea of a fpecies, becaufe fenfe cannot compare or perceive a whole in any thing, but only receives the impreffions made upon it by the adion of corporeal objeds. And this leads us to obferve not only the dif- ference in the objeds of thofe two faculties of the mind, but alfo in the manners of their operation : For fenfe does not operate by itfelf, but Chap. XI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 205^ but only receives the impreffion made upon its organs by the adion of body upon thefe organs ; whereas tlie mtelledt is not paffive like fenfe, but ads of iti'elf, and by what may indeed be properly called a vis inftta^ though it may ad upon materiaiS furnithed by the fen- fes, and does fo ad when it diicovers the ideas of pur icular thino-s or the ideas of the lowefl fpeciefes ; and it is in this {q\\{q that we are to underftand Plato, when he fays that our intelledual mind is avroxtvtjTog, or Je/f-moved'^, * See what I have faid further upon the difference betwixt fenfe and intellect, in p. 1 19. and following, of this vol. where I have maintained, what may appear a very ex- traordinary paradox, " That we do not fee a man j" for this plain reafon, that by our fenfe of fight we cannot difcover that he is of the fpecies of man ; for it is only by the intellea, which perceives things as they are conne^ed with one another, that w<: can have the idea oi fpecies or genus. CHAP. ^a6 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. CHAP. XII. \the Materia Prima a fuhjeEl of mojl ahjlrufe /peculation^ — mnre ab- Jlrufe than that of- the Trinity. — Its exiflcnce admitted by all the Antient Ph'ilofophers^ — called by them ^vXt; ; — held to be different from Bod)\ having none of the quauties of Body. — Timazui calis it the Mother^ and Idea the Father^ of Body. — Being neither Mind nor Body., it can only be comprehended >.oyKr^u) vo&oc. — // is hot treated of by Modern Philofophy^ which has not analyfed farther than to the four Elements. — Though none of thefe^ it muf be fome- ihing common to them all., and convertible to every one of them, as they change into one another. — // is a Proteus-like fubfance ;~ not to be very accurately defned; — is at the lower extremity of the chain of being. — Neither the lowejl nor highejl extremity ccmprehenfible by lis, — Two que/} ions in Theology fated : — Did this ftf matter pro- ceed from Deity ^ Or if it did 7iof^ Is it impious to maintain that a thiu^., not derived from him.^ can exif from all eternity f —Anfiter to frft quefion — // did not. — Rea/ons in fupport of the author s opinion. — The fecond quefion conftdered—No impiety in the fuppofi- firjji, — The /luthfjr fupported by Antient Philo/ophy in his opinions en thefe two quefions., — by Mofes — by Timaus — ajid by Ariftotlc, IN Cliap. XII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 207 N the preceding chapter I have fliown what are the efpcieiit and formal cauies of the univerle, ajid hotv, from thofe cauies, it proceeds with the greateH: order and regularity, fo as to form a fyftem the moft perfett that can he imagined. 1 have alfo Ihown that Ideas are incorporeal fubitances, animating ail bodies unor- ganifed as well as organifed, and giving form and motion to every body here on earth. But what Body is, or of what matter it is compofed, or from whence it is derived, 1 have not yet e;xplalned. This, however, is neceflary to be done, otherwife we cannot under- ftand the nature of that part of the univerfe which we inhabit, 1 mean the material world, nor of a great part of our own compofuion ; fo that our knowledge of the univerfe, and even of ourfelves, would be very imperfect. The antients, whofe opinion I follow in this as well as otlier fub- jedts of philofophy, make a diftindtion betwixt matter and body^ And they fay, that body is compofed of matter. This matter, which is commonly called the firjl matter, the antient philof iphers called 'vXti, and tell you that it is quite difierent from body, havinp- no form or dimenijons, nor any other qualiry of body. Timixus as I have obferved in the laft. chapter*, tells u^, that of it and idea body is compofed; of which he lays matter is lo be confidered as the mo- ther, and Idea as the father. As therefore it is neither mind nor bo- dy. What is it then? All he fays, in anfwer to this queftion, is,'That it is not perceived by the fcnfes, nor by the intelled, as we hive no idea of it; but we know it, he lays, vod:.. Xoyia-fA.u, that is, by a baf- tardklnd of reafon; of which all the lenfe, i can make, is, that we know it only by negation ; for we know that it is neither mind nor body, nor has any of the qualities of either, /^s to our modern philofophers, they appear not to have thought of it at all, having • ' carried * Page \C)6. 2-t ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. carried their analyfis, of the material world, no farther than the four elements. But if it be true, as I believe our modern philofophers allow, that thefe elements change into one another, and m quarernion run Perpetual circle, multiform; Par. Loft, Book 5. v. 18©. as Milton cxprefTes it, there muft be fome matter common to them all, which in certain circumftances and by certain changes, becomes anyone of the elements: So that nature performs upon this common matter, what the art of man performs upon wood and metal, giving it various forms and applying it to different ufes ; and in this way I would chufeto make a kind of Proteus of it, and to affert fometbing pofitive of it by way of definition. But that we (hould not be able perfedly to comprehend it, or to give of it an accurate definitio 1, is not to be wondered,* if we confider that it is the loweft thing in na- ture, and is at the extremity of one end of the wonderful chain of nature, even below body. Now, it is natural that both extremities of this wonderful chain, the loweft as well as the highcft, Ihould be out of the reach of cur capacity, in this ftate of our exiftence*. H^re there occur two queftions of Theology which deferve to be well confidered : uno, Whether we can fuppofe that this /irfi maiier proceeded, as mind does, from the Deity? and, idly^ fupp.iling it did not, Whether it be not impious to maintain that any thing can exift from all eternity, and yet not be derived from the Deity, or, in other words, be felf-exiftent? As to the firft of thefe queftions, I cannot conceive that matter fhould proceed from mind, any more than that mind (hould proceed from matter; for nothing can proceed from another thi.ig, but what is contained in it. Now, it is impof- fible for me ;o believe that maiter makes any part of tne fubft ince of Deity. Even our minds, though ^lofely united to our bodies, do not produce the bodies of our children: But, as I have faidf, it is from * See more upon this lubjedi, voi. 1. p. aH, f Tige 197. of this vol. Chap. XII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. -09 from our bodies that their bodies come, and from our minds their minds ; and if (o, as the Deity is certainly not embodied, but a pure immaterial fubftance, I think it is a contradidion in terms to fup- pofe that matter fhould proceed from him. It may be faid, tliat though he do not contain matter in himfelf, he may create it. But this is an abufe of the word creation^ as if it denoted the making a thing out of nothing, which is by the nature of things impoilible; for nothing is more certain than that ex nihilo nihil fit. There muft, therefore, have been fome material being from all eternity, otherwife nothing material could ever have exifted; and out of that being every material fubftance muft have come: So that what is called Creation is truly a proceffion from this material being ; and, indeed, every thing that is produced in this univerfe is a proceffion from the caufe which produces it, as we have fcen from the example of the more general idea producing the lefs general, where there is nothing like creation out of nothing, but a proceffion from the caufe produc-^ tive of what was contained in it. If this reafoning be juft, then matter muft neceffarily be felf-ex- iftent: And this leads to the other queftlon, Wiiether it be not impi- ous to fuppofe that there is any thing felf-exiftent except Deity ? Now, I fay that there are things which, by natural neceffiy, are felf- cxiftent as well as matter. Space, for example, is not a mere nonentity, as fome would reprcfent ; for, befidi.^s the capacity of containing body, it has dimenfions, and is extended in every direc- tion*: Then there is the truth of axioms or felf-evident propofitions which are true of themfelves, and cannot be faid to derive their truth from Deity, who could not have made them to be falfe. But we need not go farther than the Supreme Being himfelf, who exifts by natural neceffity: And by the fame neceffity of nature, I fay, mat- ter exifts: So that by the fame neceffity there is an efficient and a Vol. V. D d materLiI f See Vol. I. of this work, p. 364. and 36£. 210 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. material caufe of the unlverfe ; and I think there is the fame reafon for both, and that they were both equally neceflary. This philofophy of mine, however extraordinary 'it may appear to our philofophers at prefent, I hold to be the mod antient philo- fophy in the world. It was the philofophy of Mofes, who certain- ly fuppofes that matter exifted before the creation of the world: And this matter he calls water ^ which, among the Egyptian philofophers, w^as the type of the firft matter ; and, upon the water, he fays, that the fpirit of God moved. By Intelligence, therefore, the world, ac- cording to him, was created; and the word, which we tranflate create^ fignifies, as I am informed, in the original Hebrew, fet in order; fo that the God of Mofes was the ©so? of the Greeks, a name derived from Qzu or n&n^i^ fignifying to place or put in order : And with Mofes agrees Timaeus, who fays, that Idea, cut of matter, formed body. Now, ideas are all derived from the Supreme Mind; fo that in effect Timasus has faid that it was the Spirit of God, which, out of matter, formed the material world. And that matter exifted before a world was formed, was alfo the Gofmogony of the Greek mythologifts, who, out of ckaos, fuppof- ed the world was produced. Timaeus has not only made matter, or *yX)i, that, out of which Body is by Idea generated, but he makes it to fill all fpace j and, therefore, he fays, that it is xht place or Jeat of this fublunary world : Which (hows that he believed there was no vacuum in nature, but that all fpac« was filled with matter ; a doc- trine which Ariftotle has ufed many arguments to maintain. So that, according to thefe philofophers, there was always mind in the uni- verfe as well as matter ; both which they confidered to be of necef- fary exiftence, as neceffary as that where there is an aSlive princi- ple, fuch as mindy there fhould be fomethin^ pjjfive, fuch as mat- ter^ upon which that principle a<^s — fo- adion and pailion are co- xelatives which muft neceflarily exift together. CHAP. Chap. XIII. ANTIENT METAPH YSICS* 211 CHAP. XIII, ^he Ml croc of m in Man falls naturally to he explained^ after the Can-- fc'itution oj the Great Worlds which is coiifidered in the laji Chapter, — Our Microcofm con/i/ls of the intedeStual^ Animal ^ and Vegetable Minds or Lives ^ and of Body ^ and joined to it the Elemental Lije,^~' Man generally confidered by Philcfophers^ at preftnt^ as one Sub- fiance, conffing of Mind and Body; and thtfe different Minds as no more than Qualities of that Subfance. — ^he Author maintains a dif^ ference of Minds in Man both in their Natures and Operations ^' — and all thefe different from Body, — Our Intellectual Mind ^having the power of a&ing by if elf may exifl by it ft If ;— ana in place of being affifled by the Body in its operations ^ is impeded. — From a comparifon of its operations with thofe of the Animal and Vegetable Lives^ it mti/l be a fubfance different from both. — By. a fimilar comparifon of the energies of the Animal and Vegetable Lives ^ theje Lives proved to be different fubftances from one another^ and not different qua- lities of the fame Mind.. — The Author s doSirine^ of thefe three Minds in Man^ learned from Arifloth. — Arguments^ in favour of an Animal Mind^ from ConcoSiion^ Digefion, and other Ani-* mal funSlions. — To /uppofe all this done without Mind^ is Ma- terial fm. — The operations of the Vegetable^ as little to be account- ed for from Matter and Mechanifn^ as thofc of the Animal; — and a per [on ^ who can believe that to be the cafe of the Vegetable^ may btlisvc that all the operations of Nature proceed from no other caufe. — Similarity betwixt the Conflituiion of Man and that of the Great World^ — His compofition as various as his progrefs from, a D d 2 State 212 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. State of Nature to Civility^ Arts^ and Sciences. — He is, therefore^ the mojl Wonderful Animal on Earth, and the nioji deftrving the attention of the Philofophcr, IN the preceding chapters I have explauied, or at leaft endeavour- ed to explain, the conftitution of the great world or unlverfe. In this chapter, I think, it is proper to give Ibme account of our mi- crocofm, or little world, as it is not improperly called, containing, as it does, every thing in the great world in a certain degree ; for in it there is intellectual life, the animal or fenfitive life, the vege- table life, and body ; and with body, that fort of mind, which is common to all bodies, organifed and unorganifed, and which moves them in a certain direction, fuch as up and down, and which is called by Ariftotle Nature, and by me the Elemental Life. Upon the fubjedt of this wonderful compofition in man, I have faid a good deal elfewhere*, and alfo in this volume f : But, as man is the fubjedt of this part of my work, and as his nature cannot be p( rfedly underftood unlefs we know all the fubftances of his com- pofition, and how they are conneded together, I will here add ibmething more upon the fubje6t. It 13, I know, the general opinion of the philofophers of this age, that as man is only one animal, he is but one fubftance, confilling of mind and body; and that thofe three minds, of which 1 fay he is compofed, are truly no more than qualities of one mind ; but, I think, I can demonilrate, that thefe minds are fo different from one another, both in their natures and in their operations, that they muft be diftind fubftances, and not qualities of the fame fubftance, and that each of them muft be diftindl from Body, the fourth article I mentioned of the compofition of man. And, firft, as to the intellectual mind : That it is perfectly dif- ferent * Vol. I. Book 2. Chap. 12. t ^^8^ ^'°7' ^"^ following. Chap. XIIL ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 213 ferent from body, and has, by its nature, an exiftence fcparate from body, though, in tliis our compofitioi, it be joined with body, I think is demonftrated by this plain argument: That whatever acts, exifts ; and what ads by itfelf, mud exift by itfelf. Now, tha our intelledtual mind ads by itfelf, we know by the moft certain or all knowledge, 1 mean confcioufnefs; for in that way we know, that our intelledual mind, fo far from ading in conjunction with the body, or with any thing belonging to body, fuch as fenfation, is im- peded in its operations by body; fo that it is clearly a fubitance quite diftind from body. And this is a truth of great importance in the philofophy of man, as it fhows evidently that our intelledual mind, or foul, does not perifh with our body, when that is diflblved and returns to earth from vrhence it came, but continues flill to exiit, and to ad as it did before it was fepaiated from the body. That it is a fubftance diftind alfo from the other two minds, which are joined w^ith it in our compofition, is evident likewife from the operations of thofe two minds, compared with the operations of our intelledual mind : For as we know nothing of the efTence of any thing in this our ftate of exiftence, we muft judge of the nature of it by its qualities, and particularly by its energies and operations. Now, the operation of the intelledual mind is thinking and reafoning : The operation of the animal mind is moving the body, and per- ceiving the impreffion made by external objeds upon its organs of fenfe : The operation of the vegetable life is the fame in our bodies that it is in the vegetable ; that is, it makes our bodies grow, and i: nourifhes them. Now, both thefe operations are fo different from the operation of the intelledual mind, which, as 1 have faid, is think- ing and reafo?nng^ that it is impoffible they can belong to the fame fubftance. The next thing to be confidered is, Whether the animal or vege- taule 214 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IIL table minds be different, or whether they are to be confidered as different qualities of the fame mind ? And I fay, as I have faid with refpedl to the difference betwixt the intellectual mind and the ani- mal and vegetable, that the operations of thefe two minds are fo different from one another that they muft be different fubftances ; the one, as I have faid, moving the body, and perceiving external objects by the fenfes, and the other making the body grow and nourifliing it. This dodlrine of the three minds in man, and of the difference betwixt them, I have learned from Ariftotle, in his firft book De Moribus^ chapter 13. and in the 4th chapter of the firft book of his Magna Moralia ; from both which paffages it is evident that Arif- totle held both the animal and vegetable parts of our compofition to be minds, or 4'u;^a;, as he calls them, but both diflind: from our intelleClual mind, and from one another. And, with refped to the vegetable mind, or the ro ^^ett/xoi/, as he calls it, he fays that it dif- fers not only from the intellectual, but from the animal, in this re- fpeCt, that it has no ^o^^n-, that i«, appetite or hiclination^ but only adis upon aliments offered to it; and he compares It, in this refpedt, to fire, which confumes what is thrown into it, though it has no ''o^y^n or inclination to take any thing. In like manner our vegetable life, if you give it food, is nouriihed.; if not, it has no inclination, which makes it feek the food. And, in the paffage above quoted, from the firft book, De Moribus^ chapter 13. he fays, that it appears moft in our fleep, while our two other minds, the intellectual and animal, are at reft. And this confirms to me the truth of an obfervation,. that I have heard made by feveral phyficians, that we digeft bet- ter in our lleep than when we are awake: And it is very natural to think, that when the other two minds are at reft, the third mind fhould be moft aCtive. And it fhows that the antients were in the xight, who made fupper their principal meal, not dinner as we do. That Chap. XIII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 215 That all thefe three fubftances, in our compofition, are minds, and that every mind is an immaterial fubftance, I think I have prov- ed in the 13th chapter of book 2. of the firft volume of this work; though I know many of my readers will think it very extraordi- nary, that the part of our animal frame, by which we grow and are nourifhed, fhould have a mind in it, and be an immaterial fubftance. But if we attend to its operations, by which it con- c-odls and digefts our victuals, and feparates what is fit for .vhica tlie hiitory of man furnilhes : And, if i can accomplilh this, I think I may fay tliat 1 have given a compleat hiftory of man; frrll, fhowing how he began to be a man, properly fo called, that is a creature of intelledt and fcience, not in capacity merely but a£ltially\ and then how, after the many changes he has gone through in this life, lie is to go to another. And thus I fhall have fhov/n both the beginning and end of man in this life. I will begin with the arguments from the nature of the thing, or a priori, as it is called. Thefe, if well founded and properly con- ducted, make what is called demonf ration, which always proceeds a priori, that is from principles to confequences. Now, I lay it down as a principle, that God is wife and good, and confequendy that he has allotted to every animal an economy and manner of life beft fuited to his nature, and which will preferve him longer in health and ftrength than any other manner of life. That this is the cafe of other animals, has never, I believe, been dilputed. Now^ we cannot fuppofe that man is an exception from this general law of nature : And that he has invented another manner of life for him- felf, better than that which God has allotted him, that is more con- ducive to his health, ftrength, and longevity, is, I think, impious to maintain. That the civilifed life of man, when he is clothed, houled, ufes fire, eats flefh, and flefli cooked and prepared by fire, drinks wine, G g 2 too. 236 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV, too, and other ftrong liquors, and even fpirlts, which are fuel for fire. Is not his natural life, I have clearly, I think, proved in the preceding part of this volume*; where I have Ihown, that, by the ufe of houfes and clothes, he has not the free communication he ought to have with that element, in which and by which he lives; I mean the air: For he does not take it in, as he ought to do, by the abforbent veiTels in his j[kin; and even what he takes in by his mouth, is corrupted by the ufe of culinary fire, and particularly by that fire of which the fuel is coal, which poifons the aif by a fulphurous vapour, and fo makes it more or lefs unwholefome. And the warmth of houfes, of clothes, and of fire, not only hinders us from taking in, by our fkin and by our breath, the pure atmofphere, but it hinders us from throwing out, by perfpiration, the filth of our bodies. For, as I have obferved, in the third volume of this workf, it is difcovered by experiment, that a man naked perfpires more in the fame time, than when he is v>^rapped up in blankets and in the warmeft bed. This has been proved by accurately weighing a man after he had fit fo long naked in the open air, and comparing his weight then with his weight after having lain the fame time in a warm bed. This, as I have faid in the paflage above quoted, is contrary to the opinion of the generality of men ; but the error arifes from confounding fweat- ing with perfpiration ; for by wrapping a man up, and keeping him very warm, we make him fweat, but he perfpires lefs J. Now, what hinders thofe two natural operations, of both taking in and throwing out by the pores of our Ikin, muft needs be hurtful to the human bodv. This is the efiecl of houfes and clothes in the civilifed life: And as to * Book I. Chap. 3. and 4. t Vol. 3. p. 85. \ See what is faid upon this fubjefl by a French Academician, M. Dolomieu, entit- led, Voyage atix lies Liparis, p. 184. Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. i'^'^ to the diet in that life, it is exceedingly unnatural ; for though, by na- ture, we be not carnivorous animals, we eat flefli, yet not as carnivorous animals eat it, that is raw, but cooked and prepared by fire*, and alfo fifh prepared in the fame way; which I hold to be ftill a more unna- tural food for a land animal, than even flelh isj and, accordingly, the Egyptians did not eat it, nor the Greeks, till they were compelled by neceffity, as Ulyfles and his companions weret. We alfo drink wine and other ftrong liquors; fo that our diet is, as I have obferved in the preceding part of this volume J, altogether unnatural, and confequently deflruclive of our health, but, I believe, not fo dedrudive as the ufe of houfes and clothes, by w'hich we may be faid to ceafe to live in our native element the air; and, in place of it, to live in the filth of our own bodies kept about us by our clothes. My reafon for thinking fo is, that though the diet of the Hindoos is very much more natural than ours, as they abftain from the ufe of fiefh, fifh, and wine, yet they are fhorter lived than we, being old at the age of co and few of them exceeding 60 ; and the fize of their bodies is alfo much diminifhed. Now, as I have already obferved §, this can only proceed from the ufe of houfes, clothes, and fire. And, as they have lived in that unnatural way for very many ages, being the oldeft nation in the world, now that the Egyptians are no more, it is not to be wondered that this unnatural life fhould have afFeded them more than it has done us, (who have not been in the civilifed life the tenth part of the time), though we have joined to it a diet much more unnatural than theirs. The neceflary confequence of men living in fo unnatural a way, with * See p. 176. of vol. 3. where I have fliown that flefh eaten raw and warm with the anuTiai life, as Mr Bruce fays the Abyfliaians eat their beef, is much cafier of digelVion tlian when prepared by fire; and the Wild Girl in France faid the fame thing. f Odyfl'. 12, V. 331. and Euflathius's Commentary on the pafiage. X Page 27. § Page 29. of this volume* 23? ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. with refpect both to houfes, clothes, and diet, and continuing to live (o for many generations, each generation adding to the vices, difeafes, and weakneflVs, produced by the unnatural life of the pre- ceding, is that they muft gradually decline in ftrength, health, and longevity, till at laft the race dies out. To deny this, would be to deny that the life allotted by God and nature to man, is the beft life for the prcfervation of his health and ftrength ; for, if it be fo, I think it is demonftration, that the conftant deviation from it, go- ing on for very many generations, muft end in tlie extindion of the race. To fay ctherwifc, 1 think, vvoukl be to maintain, that man, in defiance of the ordinance of Gud, could contiime his race for ever. Befides, I think, it would be inconfiftant with the wif- dom and goodnefs of God, to fuppofe that he had formed a fpecies of animals that were to continue for ever the moft miferable, audy at the fame time, more imperfed: of their kind than any other ani- mal on this earth.. Further, as it appears that the end, propfed for our being in the ftate of civil fociety, was to give us an opportunity of becoming an intelligent animal, not only in capacity, but in aduality; and as this defign is anfwered by our having been fo long in that ftate, it w^as fit that we ihould go to another ftate where we might be lefs miferable, and, at the fame time, make greater progrefs in our re- covery from our fallen ftate. That fuch a flow and lingering death, as that of our fpecies dying out, muft be accompanied with much pain and mifery, 1 think, is evi- dent; and, therefore, I hold it to be an effed of the Divine Mercy and Goodnefs, that, as we are told in our facred books, the miferable re- mains of the fpecies ftiall be deftroyed by fome convulfion of nature, which is to produce a new Heaven and another Earth, to be inha- bited by a new race of men, more righteous and pious than the for- mer. Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 239 mer, and who are therefore called Saints. That this event is to happen, in not many generations, we are affured by fundry texts of the New Teftament, which I have elfewhere quoted*. And, in- deed, they are fo many in number, that, I think, it is impoffible that any man can be truly a Chriftian and not believe that the prefent ftate of man is to be changed in not very many genera- tions: For the intention of our Saviour's million appears to have been, to let men know that the latter days^ as they are called in Scripture, w^ere approaching ; and that, therefore, they iliould be prepared for them. So that to deny that thefe days are approach- ing, is in effed to maintain, that the reafon, given for our Saviour's coming to this world, was a falfe pretence. And here, I think, it may be obferved, that in this, as in other things, revelation agrees perfecflly with reafon and the nature of things; for it is impoffible by nature, and, I think, it would be in- confiftant with the fyftem of the univerfe, and with that infinite wifdom which has framed and condud:s it, if the flate of an ani- mal, fo various as that of man in civil fociety, and liable to fo ma- ny changes and vicifntudes, fhould lail for ever, or for any great number of years. In this refpedl we may compare the flate of man with that of other animals upon this earth. Among them, while they continue in their natural flate, and not fubjed to the dominion of man, we obferve no change in fize, flrength of body, or longe- vity, nor indeed any fymptoms of the decay or extindlion of the fpecies: Neither is there an example of any fpecies of animals in the natural ftate being extinguifhed, except by the operations of men, which was the cafe of wolves in Britain; whereas, in the civil focietics of men, every fymptom of decay is to be obferved, panicularly in i'lze and Puijare, as I have obferved in the third volume cf this workf, and in longevity, as is evident from the moft antient hidory we * Vol. 4. p. 387. t Chap. 5. cf Book 2. 240 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. we have of men : So that unlefs we could fuppofe a total change of our fpecies, as it thus appears from every fymptom to be draw- ing to an end, it muft at laft come to that end. And thus, I think, I have proved, and, I think, I may fay demon- ftrated, by arguments a priori^ that the prefent race of men is dravv"- ing to an end, and that the latter days are not far off. In the next chapter I will ftate my arguments from hiftory, both antient and modern, tending to fhow that the numbers of men have decreafed very much in antient times, and ftill more in modern. GHAF, Chap. II. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 141 CHAP. II. In the Natural State Man tncreafes in numbei^s. — nis the caCe of all Animals in that State.-^But the multiplication of Man fill greater in the frjl ages of Civility. — Two Reafons of this;— ift, The warmth of Clothes^ Hotfes, and Fire,-- Cattle^ that run oit Summer and Winter^ lefs prolific than tho/'e that are Houfed. — Why the Orang Outang docs not increaje much accounted for, — 2(\^ The ivant of Vice and Difeafe in the frf ages of Civility^ and of the unhealthy occupations -which it iwoents and introduces. — Frequent Migrations (f Nations in Antient times ^ the confequence of the great incrcafe of Men in the frf ages of Civility. — Account off me of thcfe Adigra- tions—from Egypt— from Greece to Italy-^from Rome—rfrom Gaul into Italy ^ Greece, and Afia Minor. — Of the Migration of the Cimbers and Teutons into Italy, — and of the Goths, Vandals, tffc, into the Roman Empire, — All thefe Migrations occafoned by itant of fubfftance at home. — Colonies fent out for the fame reafon. ■ The only exception to this, the cafe of the Hdvetii as dcfcribed bv Julius C^/ar: — Their condudl accounted for. — The multi'^Iication of Men, a grievance in the frf ages of Civility. — Cure for this grievance in Crete — praSli/ed alfo at Thebes. — Though more numer- ous in the frf ages of Civility than in the Natural State, Men were not then Bigger and Stronger. — The cafe of Giants, fuch as the Sons of Anak, a peculiarity of a few Fatnilies, who had lived longer in the Natural State. — Men, in the frf ages of Civility, Stronger, Bigger, and Longer Lived than thofe of latter times. — This accounts for the Superior Size of Men in the Heroic age of Vol. V. H h Greece. 242 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV, Greece. — Of the true Heroic age of a Nation, — Vice and Difeafe the Natural confequences of Society as it grows old, — Thefe render the progeny tvorfe and lefs abundant. — The numbers of Men depend upon Health, Morals^ and Occupation. — The bad effe&s upon Health and Morals by Vice, Dfeafe, and Unwholefome Occupations, — Ho- race s opinion of the gradual decline of the Species in Civil Society, -^Impofible, by the nature of things, that Man can fubfift long in that State, THAT man, in his natural (late, multiplies, and fo fulfills the firft command given to him, is a faf profrane hifiory), is the hiftory of the Aflyrian empire, which Diodorus Siculus has given us from Ctefias the Cnydian. The au- thprhy of this Ctefias, I know, is called in queftion by fome au- " thors, particularly by Plutarch. But Henry Stephen, In a dilTerta- tion * Who would defire to know more of the numbers of the people of Ifracl, mav KCiRl. what is laid in a book, entitled, " Diflertation on the Numbers of Mankind in An- '< tient and Modern Times," p. 51. and following.— The book is printed at Edinburgh in 1753, but without the author being named. It contains a great collctlion 0/ fa^i upon the lubiia of the populjtion of counti !-?, and h, I think, very well worth the leadi::?. 2-56 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. tlon prefixed to the Excerpts from Ctefias, which Photius has preferved to us, has fufficiently vindicated him from the impu- tation of falichood^. And, indeed, the account which Diodorus gives of him, that he refided i6 years in the court of Perfia, was a favourite of Artaxerxes, the king, on account of his medical know- ledge, and had an opjxjrtunity of perufmg the royal records of Per- fia, containing their mofl antient hiftory, and which, Diodorus fays, he examined very accurately, is fufficient, in my opinion, to vindi- cate him from any imputation of either falfehood or inaccuracy, ef- peciaily when 1 fee that his authority is called in queftion, not in refpedt of what he relates of the affairs of men, but as to what he relates of certain ftrange animals in India. Upon the authority of this author, Diodorus relates, that Ninus, the Affyrian Emperor, in- vaded Badriana with an army of 1,700,000 foot, 210,000 horfe, and chariots to the number of about 10,600*; and that Semiramis invaded the fame country with an army of 3,000,000 foot, 500,000 horfe, and 100,000 chariots f. Thefe numbers, fays our author, may appear incredible to men now a days, but not to thofe who confider what a vaft country Afia is, and by what a number of na- tions it is inhabited ; for, fays he, fetting afide Darius's expedition into Scythia, with 800,000 men, and Xerxes's expedition into Greece with innumerable multitudes, if we confider what happen- ed in Europe not long ago, we fhall not think thefe numbers incre- dible. In Sicily, Dionyfius, from the fmgle town of Syracufe, brought forth an army of 120,000 foot, and 12,000 horfe; and, from one port, he fitted out 400 fhips of war : And the Romans,^ at the time they were invaded by Hannibal, muflered an army of their citizens and allies very little (hort of a million of men. And yet, * Sec this differtation annexed to an edition of Herodotus, publifhed 7<\, Frankfort »y Jungermannus in 1608, p. 630. * Diodorus, Lib. 2. Cap. 5. f Ibid, Cap. 1-7, Chap. III. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 2^7 yet, fays our author, all Italy, with refpedl to the number of men, is not to be compared to one of the nations of Afia. This may fuf- fice, he adds, for an anfwer to thofe, who, from the prefent defo- lation of the earth, judge of the numbers of men in antient times*. But, fetting afide the authority of authors, I am convinced, from the reafon of the thing, that men muft have multiplied very much more in antient times, and in the firft ages of fociety, than they do now: For, as they were ftrorger in body, — very much healthier, their -diet and manner of life being more natural than ours, — all married and begetting great numbers of children, few or none of which died under age ; — it was impcffible, by the nature of things, that they iTiould not multiply very much more than we of modern times. Thus much may fuffice for the population of the earth in antient times, before our Saviour's coming. As to the population at that time, which was the next thing I propofed to fpeak of, we muft be convinced, that it was not fo great as in more antient times, if we confider the ftate of the world at that time. Egypt and Greece might then be faid to be depopu- lated, compared with what they were in antient times. That Egypt was then very much lefs populous than it was in the reign of king Amafis, when it contained 20,000 cities, and 25,000 under the reign of Ptolomy Philadelphus, it is impoflible not to beheve, after having been conquered, firft by the Perfians, then by the Ma- cedonians, ar^d laftly by the Romans. And as to Greece, when Paufanias travelled through it, it could not have raifed as many ^ctXitcci^ or heavy armed men, as the i'mall city of Megara furniflied to the Greek army at Platxae. The Roman empire, much greater than the four empires that had been before it, viz. thofe of the Af- VoL. V. K k fyrians, X Diodorus, Lib. 2. Cap. 5. ^t ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Bosk IV. fyrians, Medes, Perfians, and Macedonians, was then in' its- greaf- efl glory, with refpecl to extent of territory; for it comprehended the greateft part of the earth then known. But the Romans h^d not only depopulated a great part of the earth hy their conquerts, but had dirniniihed their own numbers fo much by thefe conquefts,. and more ftill by their vices and difeafes, tliat Italy was a defart compared to what it had been at the time of the foundation of Rome. Pliny relates, that in Latium, a fmall diftrid of Italy, there were once ci cities, or little ftates, of which there was not a veftige remaining in his time: And Horace tells us, that his fmall Sabine farm, which was cultivated by no more than eight flaves, fent once to Varia (a little ftate, of which his farm was a part) five Senators*. The Volfci, the Equi,the Veii, and many other nations with whom the Ro- mans fought fo many battles in the beginning of their ftate, and who recruited their armies fo foon after the greateft lofles, had difappeared in the days of Auguftus; and the eftates of the Roman nobility were, at that time, cultivated by flaves from barbarous nations inftead of free citizens, and that rufllcorum mafcula militum proles^ which enabled the Romans to conquer the world. Auguftus, and the fucceeding Emperors, endeavoured to preferve the race of citizens, by the rewards they gave to encourage marriage and the rearing of children, and by the punifhments they inflided on celebacy. In order to repeople Italy, Auguftus brought into it 28 colonies from other nations t; and Antoninus Philofophus, for the fame purpofe, mjiintos e:: gentibus i7i Romano folo collocavit^ as Julius Capitolinus, the author of his life, tells us J: — But all to no purpofe ; for Italy came at laft to be peopled chiefly with flaves, or flaves manumitted and their children : And even with them it would have been a defart if Conftantine had not rcpeopled it with 300,000 Sarmatians. Nor was it better in Sicily than in Italy; for, in a paflage, that I have quoted § from DiodoruSj, * Lib. I. Epif. 14. t Suetonius in vita Augufti, Cap. 0^6. X Cap. 24> S Page 257. Chap. ill. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 259 Diodorus, who lived much about the ttme of Auguftus, he tells us that the numbers there were greatly decreafed. There is another country adjoining to Italy, very much greater than Sicily, and greater than even Italy, which was once fwarming with people; I mean Gaul. This nation firft overflowed into Italy, as was natural, being a country only divided from it by a rid"-e of hills; and there they poiTefled themfelves of a great trad: of country, which, from them, was called Cifalpine Gaul, After that they fent out colonies to different parts of Europe, and even into Aha in great numbers, as I have already mentioned *. But a little before the coming of our Saviour, they had been conquered by Julius Csefar: And a moll: bloody conqueft it was; for Plutarch, in his life of Ca^- far, computes that he killed a million of men, and made prifoners of another million f. Indeed, from Casfar's own account of his wars in Gaul, it is evident that he mufl: have deftroyed a o-reat number of people in that country: And a great and warlike na- tion, in the neighbourhood of Gaul, I mean the Helvetii, he may be faid to have almoft exterminated ; for he gives us the number of the Helvetii, taken from written records, that they themfelves made when they left their country, which, as I have faid, the whole people did, men, women, and children, after deftroying their towns, villages, and even fmgle detached houfes J. The whole num- ber, of this vv'onderful emigration, was 368,000, of which no more than 110,000 returned home §. In ihort, it appears, that every 'country, which the Romans conquered, was more or lefs depopulat- ed by them; and, indeed, it is to me evident, that the tendencv of all great empires is to diminifli the number of inhabitants in the coun- tries where they are eflablifhed. 1 am, therefore, perfuaded, that, K k 2 before * Page 244. + See p. 73. and following of "The Diflertatlon on the Numbers of Mankind'' referred to, or p- 755 of this vol. % Lib. 1. Dc Belio GallkOf Cap. 29. § See p. 7.^6, 2(^0 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. before the eftablifhment of the firft of the four great empires, the Aflyrian, the earth was more populous than it has been at any time fmce; though, I believe, it was more depopulated by the Roman empire, (the greateii, as I have obferved, of the four), at the time of the coming of Chrift, than by any of the other three, or perhaps by all the other three put together. This was the (late of the population of the earth at the time of the coming of our Saviour ; from which it appears, that the num- ber of inhabitants, in all the then known countries, was wonderful- ly decreafed. Nor was there the leaft appearance of their increafmg, or not continuing to decreafe, but of the contrary: And, according- ly, it fhall be fliown, under the next head, that, fmce the days of Au"-uftus Csefar, when our Saviour came to this earth, the decreafe has been prodigious; which may be inferred from v.^hat I have al- ready ihown, that Italy, the feat of the Empire, was fo much de- populated, that it needed to be repeopled by barbarians in the time of Conftantine the Emperor. For the caufes of depopulation, dif- eafes and vices, were much increafed in the days of Auguftus, and continued ftill to increafe. In the time of Pliny the elder the num- ber of difeafes amounted, as I have already obferved *, to 300 ; and now they cannot be enumerated, at leaft I have never heard of any number afligned to them. And as to vices, it is well known that the Romans were as much or more increafed in vices than in empire; and indeed the one was the caufe of the other, by the ad*- dition which the increafe of their empire made to their wealth: And a few years after Auguftus, under the fucceeding Emperors, I do not believe that there ever was fo profligate a people, abandoned to all the moft flaameful vices, which, by contagion from the go- verning people, muft have fpread more or lefs over all the then known world. The virtues of Egypt and Greece, as well as thofe * Page 85 Chap. III. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 261 thofe of Rome, were now no more; and with them were gone the arts and fciences of thefe two nations, which were in vain endea- voured to be preferved among the Romans: And, indeed, it was impoflible that they fhould have been preferved among a people whofe governing paflion, as we are told by one of their own au- • thors *, was the love of money, to be fpent in vice and folly. Jn this defperate ftate of mankind, decreafed and ftill decreafmg in numbers, without health, without virtue, without arts and fci- ences chat cculd make them better, and with a religion whicli had a tendency to make them worfe and none at all to make them bet- ter, and when even among the Jews, to whom the immortality of the foul, and a future ftate of rewards and punifhments, were not then re- vealed, there was no perfed: religion, it was proper, and, indeed, I may fay, neceiTary, that a wife and good God ftiould let them know that this ftate of man, which was always growing worfe and worfe, could not continue very much longer, and that therefore they muft prepare for another ftate. For this purpole our Saviour came to this earth, who told them. That his k'mgdom was not of this ivorld ; and that therefore his followers muft expedl no happinefs here : But, If they had a mind to be happy, it muft be in another world; for which they muft prepare themfelves by repentance and turning from their evil ways, which alone could make them fit to enjoy a happier life in a future ftate, and efcape thofe punifliments which otherwife they muft fuffer in that ftate. If Jefus had appeared when the affairs of men were yet flourifli- ing, while there was ftill health and ftrength among them, and they were fulfilling the firft commandment, they got when they were placed on this earth, of increafing and multiplying, fo much, that the countries where they lived could not maiutuin them, while E- * See p. 182 of vol. 6. of Origin of Language^ 2(52 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. gypt, the parent country of arts and fciences, was yet in its glory, or fuppofe that only Greece had remained, which had fo iuccesfully cultivated the learning of Egypt, it might be thought that he had come too foon to warn men of calamities that were to happen at fo great a diftance of time. But he came in the fulnefs of time^ when the affairs of men were in the defperate ftate I have reprefented, fo that there were no hopes of any happinefs in this life, and therefore it was neceffary that men fhould prepare for that future life which was revealed to them, and which they were told was not at a very great diftance *. * See upon this fubje£l, of our Saviour coming in the fulnefs of time, what I have faid in the preceding volume, p. 397. and following ; where, among other things that made his coming very proper at the time when he came, I have mentioned the de- creafe of the numbers of men, and the tendency of the Ijpecies to its extinction, which, I think, 1 have proved in this volume. CHAP. €hap,IV. AKTIENT METAPHYSICS. 263 C H A P. I\^ Of the State of Man, with refpe5l to Population^ fince the coming of Chrift, — Blfeafes much tncreafcd in numbers — of the Small-Pox, Great-Pox, and Meafles, — Vices alfo much increafed^—infancc of this in Spirit Drinking — a moft defructive Vice. — North America almoji Depopulated by it and the Small-Pox, — Of the Depopulation of Italy in later times, compared with Antient Italy, — the number of Cities much fewer. — Many Cities dcjlroyed by the Romans — and great Depopulation produced by their Conquefs. — T'he Depopula- tion completed by the ravages of jhe Goths and other barbarous Nations, — Of the Population of Antient Latium — many Colonies fent out from Rome. — Greece much Depopulated fince the days of Paufanias : — The Author informed of its prefent flat e by a late Tra^ veller. — Afia very populous in antient times : — Its Wcfern King- doms now but thinly peopled : — Great part of Tartary a defart according to Mr Bell of Antermony : — Great deereaje of the num- bers of men in India ; — this occaftoned by the conquefls of Gen- chis Chan, Tamerlane, Kouli Chan, and the Britifj. — China tzvice conquered by the Tartars ; — highly probable, therefore, that its numbers are dimini/ljcd ; — and alfo thofe of Japan : — Prudence of thofe Countries in avoiding much inter courfe with Europceans.-^^ South America and the Wejl Indies dreadfully Depopulated by the Spaniards ; — and North America by the Britiflj, Ik 264 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. IN the preceding chapter I have fliown what the ftate of man was with refpe(St to population, and in other refpeits, at the time of our Saviour's coming ; and I am now to fhow what his ftate has been, and is in the laft period I have mentioned. — The time that has pafled fmce the coming of our Saviour. From what has been already faid, the reader will not be dlfpofed to think that things are much mended in the laft 1796 years. So far from that, I fhall fliow that they are become very much worfe, and particularly with refped to population, the numbers of men are decreailng fo faft, that our fpecies may be faid to be in a galloping confumption, as the doctors exprefs it. In the firft place, difeafes, which, as I have faid, even in the days of Pliny, amounted to no lefs than 300, are now greatly increafed : For we have difeafes en- tirely unknown to the antients, fuch as the fmall and great pox, and the meafles; which we have imported from different parts of the world: And there are new difeafes, daily appearing, for which our dodors have not names, much lefs cures. As to vices, thefe, as I have ftiown in a preceding part of this volume, muft neceflarily increafe in all civil focieties, as they grow older: And there is particularly one vice of modern times, altogether unknown to the antient world, which has increafed in Europe, and particularly in Britain, to a wonderful degree. The vice I mean is, that of fpirit drinking ; by which more people are deflroyed in Eu- rope, than, I believe, by all the other vices put together : And, as the people of Europe trade with fo many diiferent p^rts of the world, they have imported that vice, and a moft fatal difeafe, I mean the fmall-pox, into many other countries, and particularly into America, by which, and the drinking of fpiriis, a confiderable part of North America Chap.IV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 2% America has been almoft depopulated ; for one neceflary confc- quence of trade is, that there muft be a commerce, not only of com- modities, but of vices and difeafes. From what I have faid of the increafe of vices and difeafes, and of their propagation to to many different parts of the world, I think I might conclude with great certainty, that the depopulation of the earth has increafed very much in later times, that is in the period fmce the coming of our Saviour. But I will prove it from fadls, as well as from the reafon of the thing ; And for this purpofe I will mention particular countries, in which depopulation has increafed very much in the period I fpeak of; and I will begin with Italy, of the population of which, in antient times, I have faid a good deal. But, as we are fo well informed concerning it, I will add what fol- lows. In it, as ^lian in his Various H'ljiory tells us^% were antient- ly 1 197 cities: And at prefent they do not exceed 300, accordmg to the calculation of fome authors; nor docs any author make them more than 360, as we are told by an author who appears to be ex- ceedingly well informed both of the antient and prefent Rate of Italy; I mean Dempfter, a Scotchman and a Profeflbr of Civil Law in tiic Univerfity of Pifa, who has written a book in two folio volumes, De Etruria Regali f. Of thefe cities which have difappeared, he has given us a long catalogue in the fecond volume, many of them fo annihilated that a veftige of them is not to be found. Among thefe is the city of Vcii^ one of the moft remarkable cities in Italy, equal in fize to the city of Athens, as the HalicarnafTian, in his An* tiquities, has informed us J, and which cofl the Romans a ten years fiege before they could take it. But, when they took it, they raf- ed it, ploughed the ground upon which it flood, and did not leave the ieaft veftige of it: So that, as Florus tells us, Laborat Auualmm Vol. V. LI fjes, * Lib. 9. Cap. 1 5. f Vol. 2. p. 42. X Lib. 2. p. 116. 266 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV, fdcs^ ut Veios fu'ijfe credamus'^ ; for the Romans, as I have obferv- ed, not only depopulated what they conquered of the antient worlds but their own country more than any other. And they appear not only to have deftroyed many cities, but to have extirpated nations ; for Strabo mentions one, whom he calls Ofci^ which he fays, in his time, no longer exifted f. And the fame mray be faid of the Volfc'iy Eqtti^ and many other nations, with which the Romans, in the be- ginning of their ftate, waged many and bloody wars. What compleated the defolation of Italy was the ravages of the Goths in it, which Rome itfelf did not efcape. It was thrice fack- t\ by thofe barbarous conquerors, of whom one of their Kings, Totila, not only facked it, but had refolved to rafe it altogether, and to make of it what the Romans had made of the city of Veii; and, ac- cordingly, he had begun to demolifh the walls, but was (lopped from proceeding farther by a letter which, it is laid, he received from Be- lifarius. This wonderful depopulation, of the fineft country in Europe, will appear ftill more extraordinary, if we confider how it was peo- pled in antient times, and how it increafed in people. I have aU ready obferved, that in Latium, a fmall province of it, there were once 52 cities, of whi.:h hardly a veftige was to be feen in the days of Pliny the elder. How much thofe cities, before they were def- troyed, muft have increafed in the number of inhabitants, we may judge from the example of Rome, which was not 500 years old be- fore it had fent out 30 colonies, notwithllanding the continual wars it was engaged in ; and its mother city, Alba Longa, fent out the fame number, in a much fhorter time. The * Lib. 1. Cap. 12. — See alfo Dempfterj vol. 2. p. 46. and 47. t Lib. 5. p. 151. Cliap, IV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 267 The moft remarkable country of Europe, in antient times, next to Italy, was Greece; which was the feat of arts and fciences, as Ita- ly was of Empire. Of the dcfolation of it 1 have fpoken in the preceeding chapter ; and have (liown, that as early as the days of Paufanias, who lived under the Emperor Adrian, it was depopulated, compared with what it had been in antient times. That it has in- creafed fmce that time under the dominion of the Saracens and Turks, nobody can believe ; and I know a fenfible and learned gen- tleman, who travelled through it not long ago, and who tells me, that it is very thinly peopled, and little better than a defart compar- ed vAth. what it was in antient times, or even with what we muft fuppofe it to have been in the days of Paufanias. Before I come to fpeak of other countries In Europe, I will fay fomething of the prefent ftate of population in Afia and America. — That Afia was antiently a very populous country, is evident from, what I have faid * of the prodigious army which Xerxes levied in it, to invade Greece. A late traveller in the Eaft, M. Niebuhr, the Danifh geographer, tells us f, that the countries of Egypt, Babylo- nia, Mefopotamia, Syria, and Paleftine, are fo thinly inhabited, that -a great deal of good land in thofe countries lies uncultivated. As to the countries from whence Europe was repeopled after It had been depopulated by the Roman Empire, I mean the north- eaft parts of Afia, or that prodigious trad of country called Tariary ; — ^^I correfponded with Mr Bell of Antermony, who travelled twice through it with the Ruffian caravan, which goes from Peterfburgh to Pekin ; and he alTured me, that there is nothing like population now to be feen in that country, L 1 3 which • Page (256. f Vol. 2. p. 13(5. 268 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. which cannot properly be laid to be inhabited hj thofe hordes of Tar- tars that wander throug'i it : And in his travels, which he has pub- lilhed, he oblerves, that there is more uninhabited country in that part of Alia than would contain and fupport all the Inhabitants of Europe. India, the mofl populous country known when Diodorus wrote, is not, I am perfuaded, near fo populous as it was ; though, I believe, it is not near fo much diminifhed in its numbers as the other countries I have mentioned, becaufe the Indians have preferved their antient manners better than any other nation now exifting. But having been conquered by the Mogul Tartars, and having had their country overrun by Geachii Chari^ Tamerlaney and Koidi Chan^ and fo much of it taken from them by the Britifli, (more, 1 am told, than all Great Britain, France, and Ireland put together,) it is, I think, impoffible that they Ihould be now as numerous as they were formerly, the Britifh alone, if we can believe the French, having deftroyed five millions of them. As to the Chinefe, their country has been twice conquered by the Tartars; and from what I hear of their manner of living, their vices and dileafes, I think it is impoffiiile, by the nature of things, that they fliould not be much diminifhed in their numbers, though they, as well as the Japanefe, have the prudence to avoid, as much as pof- fible in a country that carries on commerce, any great intercourfe with Europeans, who have propagated their vices and difeafes to fo many other nations. Of Japan we know fo Httle, that we cannot fay whether it be in- creafmg or diminilhing in its numbers. It is certainly very popu- lous ; 1 believe the mofl populous country at prefent on earth, ac- cording to the account we have of it from an author who accompa- nied a Dutch Ambaflador to Jeddo, the capital of Japan. But we know Chap. IV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 269 know fo little of its aiitlent hiflory, that it is impofTible we can de- termine whether it was not in former times ftill more populous. This may fuffice as to the ftate of population of the Eaftern coun- tries. From the Eaft 1 go to the Wefl, and to that New World, as it may be called, that has been difcovered on the other fide of the Atlantic Ocean. As this difcovery was no longer ago than about 300 hundred years, it might be thought that this New World fliould have efcaped the defolarion, which, I have fhown, has been fo gene- ral in the Old World; or, at leaft, that it fhould not have been depo- pulated by the Spaniards who difcovered it, or by the Europceans who have fettled there. But fo far from that, I have fhown in the prece- ding part of this volume, that, in South America and the Weft In- dia iflands, there has been m^ide, by the Spaniards, what may be called, in the language of our Scripture, the abomination of defolatim^ Nor were the Spaniards the only depopulators of America ; but we of this ifland have contributed greatly to that defolation : For the Britifh colonies, that fettled in North America, have exterminat- ed the natives by war and maffacre, and ftill more by our vices and difeafes, all along the coaft of that country from Hudfon's Bay to Flo- rida, and up to the Apulachian Mount .ins, to the extent of 300 miles from the fea; and in all that vaft tradl of country there are no vef- tiges of the antient inhabitants to be fcen except their burial places. CHAP. S70 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. BooklV. CHAP. V. ^fthe Population of Spain In antient and modern times :— In Cicero's time very great ;-^but noiv, notwithjlanding the addition of Goths Vandals, Heruli, and Moors, its Population very fmalL^France fuppofed about ^o years ago, when the Author was there, to have decreafed 2 millions fmce the days of Lewi, XIV. ^The Author par. ticularly informed about the thinne/s of the Population of France at that time, and of the caufes ofit,-^Not likely that their numbers arc of late increafed. NOW return to the countries of Europe ; and I will begin with Spain, which, m depopulating America, may be faid to hav« depopulated itfelf : For Spain, 1 believe, is lefs peopled than any other country in Europe; and this owing chiefly to their commerce -;».th the New World, and the exportation of their people to it. Spain m the time of Cicero, (as he informs us*), was a very populous coun- try. It was then inhabited by the antient Iberians, with a mixture of Celts in lome parts of the country, which made a race of very brave people, called CdP.berlans. Then came among them, when the Roman Empire was invaded by barbarians, the Goths, Vandah and /fcr«/;-,and in later times the Moors : So that the Spaniards, at' pre- fent, are the moft mixed nation in Europe, and ought to be fo much the more populous now than they were in the days of Cicero • and yet, according to my information, Spain is worfe peopled at prefent than any other country in Europe, '■ Oratio d'^ Harufpiemn Refpoiijii. Chap. V. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 27-1 As to the country on the other fide of the Pyrennees, I mean France ; — When I was there, about 30 years ago, the poUtical arith- meticians computed that they were decrcafed two milUons fmce the death of Lewis the XIV : And fmce I left France I have feen a book entitled, Les Inttrtts de la France 7nal Entendus^ in which the author fays, that the depopulation is fo great, that if it go on at the fame rate for any confiderahle number of years, it may be computed when there fhall be no inhabitants at all in i'lmce. But what I truil to, more than to the computations of the author of this book, or to thofe of the politi- cal arithmeticians in France, is what 1 learned from a- man, originally of Manchefter, whom I law in F»-ance, and with whom i had a great deal of converfation upon the fubjedl of the population of France, in- to which he had imported the Manchefter manutadures, and for that fervice was made faperintendant of cili the manufidures of France. He told me, w~hat was very true^ that men who travelled, as 1 did, on the high roads^ from one town to another, and in clofe carriages, could know nothing of the population of the country in general : * But 1,* fays he, ' who, in difcharge of my office, travel over the whole ' country, and go to parts of it the moft remote from public roads, can * alTure you, that the country is very thinly peopled, being divided into * great farms, with very few cottages or fmall farms, and the rent fo * high, that the tenants cannot afford to bring up taimlies ; and, there- * fore, many of them are not married, and thole that are, contrive it fo, * that they have few or no children.' Of its prefent population I fhall only obferve, that after the con- fufions, that, for thefe five or fix years paft, have prevailed there, producing fuch unexampled deftrudion of men, by every poffible means of intef^ine and foreign wars, malfacres and executions, (not to mention the number-^ of hofe who have emigrated to every other country of Europe), I believe no perfon will advance fo abfurd a paradox, as that they have cf late increafed in numbers. CHAP. ^72 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. CHAP. VL Of the Population of Britain, — Population one of the three great Ar- ticles of the Political SyJIem. — ift, The Population of England con- fid ere d ; — not fo great now as when "Julius C^far was in the Jfand : — According to him England was very Populous^ and even more Populous than Gaul. — Our great towns ^ no proof of great Population : — They, on the contrary, confume great numbers of people. — Little knowledge of the fate of Population during the Saxon government. -~ Reafons for concluding, that after the Norman eouquef, the Population was greater than at prefcnt : — The feudal fyfem introduced by it ^favourable to Population. — Our wars, trade ^ midmni failures, attended with great wqfie of men. — An inquiry^ therefore, into the Population of England at prefent, and whether it be increaftng or decreafing, a quefion of the great ef political importance : — Oppofite opinions on this point maintained by Mr Howlet and Dr Price. — Mr Howlet contends, that ive have doub- led our numbers fine e \n\o ', — arguments again/l this opinion: — Dr Price holds, that ever fince the revolution in 1688, we have been decreafing in numbers : — Probable ■ that the DoElor is in the ■right, from the caufes he afigtis, — Enumeration ofthefe. In Chap. V. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 273 IN the preceding chapter I have inquired into the population of feve- ral of the countries of this earth, as far as they are known to us. In this chapter I come home, and am to inquire into the population of Britain; — a moft ferious and important fubjeft, defervin^ as much or more than any thing elk, the conlideration of our legiflature and our minirters. Population is, as 1 have already obferved, one of the three great articles of the political fyftem. It is fo particularly in Britain, where, 1 believe, there are more people employed in dif- ferent occupations, on land and by fea, at home and abroad, than are, or, 1 am perfuaded, ever were, in any other nation of Jiurope. I will begin with England. That the numbers in England are not now fo great as they were in the days of Julius Casfar, I think is evident. Cselar reprefents England (the only part of Britain which he faw) as exceedingly populous when he was there. Defcribing the face of the country- he fays, there was in it hifinita bomUiiim multittido ; which, in any- other writer of not fo corrredl and chafte a flile, I fhould think an hyperbolical exprefTion. But, in fuch a writer as Gsefar, it can mean no more than that the country was extraordinarily populous more than even Gaul, from which he was come, and which was cer- tainly a country then much more populous than it is at prefent. Now, no man, who obferves with any attention the appearance of the country of England, will fay that it is infinitdy popuiotts -, for fuch an exprefTion 1 fhould confider as a mofl ridiculous exaggeration. It is true that there are great towns in England; very much greater, and, I am perfuaded, many more of them, than in the days of Julius Cxfar. But do men multiply in great towns as they do in the country? So far from that, it is certain that great towns do not fupport their own numbers. And, as they were originally collected from the country, Vol. V. M m they ■/\ 274 AMTIl^NT METAPHYSICS. Book VL they would, In not many years, be depopulated if they were not recruited by numbers from the country. 1 have heard it com- puted, that London confumes every year 10,000 men, which are fupplied from the country, though Dr Price, I obferve, makes the number to be only 7000 * : And I am informed, by fome corref- pondents whom I have in England, thit other towns, (and they mention Briftol particularly) would be depopulated in not many years, if they were not recruited from the country. 1 think it, therefore, evident, that as Csefar, in defcribing the whole appear- ance of the country, fays, that it was infinitely populous, it mud have been more populous in his time than it is now with the addi- tion of greater and more towns, which, as I have faid, rather con- fume men than add to their numbers. In later times, when England was under the dominion of the Saxons, we do not know enough of the ftate of the country to be able to judge, whether it was more or lefs populous than at prefent. But after the Normans got pofleffion of it, and intro- duced the feudal lav/, 1 am of opinion, that it was then more po- pulous than it is now ; for though there were not in it thofe great towns that are nov^r, I hold that the country, which is the true mo- ther and nurfe of men, was much better peopled than it is au prefent. According to the feudal fyftem, the country was divided into great baronies and lordlliips ; for the fiefs in all the countries of Europe, when the feudal law was firft introduced, were very extenfive. Thefe fiefs were all held of the crown for military fervice, or by ca- pital tenure^ as the Normans call it f . This military fervice was performed on horfeback, and the mjn who fought in that way were called knights ; and the whole land of F.ngland was divided, by William the Conqueror, into Tenancies of that kind, which were called * In his Effjy en the Population of Engbnd. + In the language of the Nornnan law, this holding is faid to be en chef, which in Scotland we have tranflated into I.atin, and n:akc it to be a tenure in capite. Chap. V. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 275 called knights fees. But thefe great lords divided their territories in- to lefTer fiefs ; which were held of them by their vaflals, in the lame manner that they held their lands of the Crown, that is by military fervice. But befides the land thus fet off to military tenants, tliefe great lords had other lands, which they fet off to be held, not by thejtr^ vice of the field^ which was the defcription they gave of knights fervice, (for at that time a fliield was part of the armour of a knight) but by the fervice of the plough. Thefe vaffals were bound to plough the lands, which the lord kept in his own poffeffion, and were call- ed his domain : And fr04.11 thence it was that fuch vaffals were called fock-men ; and the tenure^ by which they held their lands, was called focca^e tenure. To others they fet off lands to be held by villain s te- nure ; and thefe vaffals were called villain or villains : And the dif- ference betwixt them and the fock men was, that the fervice of thefe was particular and determined ; whereas, the fervice of the villains "was general and undetermined, fo that they might be employed in any way their lord thought proper. Befides thefe foci-men and vil- Irni^ the lord had under him another kind of fervants, who alfo held lands of him, and are frequently mentioned in Doomfday book, un- der the name of Bordarii : Thefe performed fervices at board or table, or other domeftic fervices, to their lord. Befides thefe fervants who held lands for their fervice, there were a great number of flaves, or nativi^ as they were called, who had no lands, but ferved their mafters in the fame manner as the Greek imd Roman flaves ferved their mafters. Of thefe it appears from Doomf- day book that there was a great number in England : For this book contains the moft exad: furvey that ever was made of any country ; as it may be faid to contain the whole inhabitants of every rank and M m 2. denomination,, 276 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book V. denomination, or in whatever way employed. Thefe flaves, I am perfuaded, had children, and increafed and multiplied, as well as the Villani and the Bordarit did, and as the flaves among the Greeks and Romans did ; and in this way England muft have been full of people under the feudal government introduced by William the Conqueror, and much more populous than it is now. This may fuffice with regard to the population of England in an- tient times j and we are now to inquire what the fl;ate of its popula- tion is at prefent, and whether we be increafnig or decreafing in numbers. This I hold to be a qneftion of the greateft importance, and fuch as ought to be a principal objedt of the attention of our minifters and legiOators ; for, as we carry on trade all over the world, and, for [hat purpofe, have fo many foreign fettlements, which muft be maintained, even in time of peace, at a very great expencc of men ; — and when the wars in which we are engi'.gcd, very often on account of trade, and carried on, like the prefent war with France, by fea and land, in Europe, Afia, Africa, and America, are fo ex- ceedingly defl:ru£tive ; — and conlidering, too, that the arts, which we exercife at home in time of peace, are fome of them attended with a great wafte of men, it is evident that the population muft be very great to fupport fuch a fyftem of policy. It is, therefore, a? 1 have faid, a queftion of the utmoft importance, to conlider whether the numbers of people in Britain, and paiticularly in England, of which I am now fpeaking, are increafing or decreafing. On this fubje^l two very different opinions have been puMlfhed ; one the opinion of a clergyman ol the name of f^Iowlet, wno ti.ain- tains, that from the year 1740 down tt> 1788, when he publilhed his book, the people of t ngland have increai'ed from five millions, which was their number in 1740, to ten millions,w!nch was their num- ber in 1788 J that is, they have doubled their number in the fpace of 4S Chap. VI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 277 48 years. If this were truly the cafe, our minifters and leglflators need not give themfelves any trouble about that moft important article of the politic^il fyftem, — the numbers of people; which, accor- ding to Mr Howlet's fyftem, is, of itfelf, going on at fo great a rate. This hypothefis, however, of Mr Howlet, is founded on no better ground than the increafe of people which he has obferved in two or three parifhcs in his neighbourhood. 'But fuppofing that he had kept a very exad account of their numbers from the year 1740 to 1788, which can hardly be fuppofed, yet, if the recount had been kept v;ith the greateft exadnefs, he cannot, from thence, infer, that the whole peopfe of a nation are increafed in thai proportion, or are in- creafed at all ; for I do not believe, that there is any example of depo- pulation going on fo fail in any nation, as to be univerfal in every part of it fo that, in every the leaft part of it, there was no increafe of the people; for that may be in particular places, for particular reafons, which cannot affed the population of the country in general. The other opinion, upcn this fubjed, is pubUfhed by Dr Price in 1788, in a pamphlet, entituled ' An Eflay on the Population of Eng- * land from the Revolution to the prefent time ' In this pamphlet, the Dodor maintains, that fmce the revolution, depopulation in hng- land has been going on, and ftill continues to go on : And what gives his opinion much more the appearance of truth, than the opi- nion of Mr Howlet, is, that he has affigned caufes for this depopu- lation ; v^hereas, Mr Howlet has affigned no caufes for fo extraor- dinary an iacrcate of people as he fuppofes in 48 years ; greater, I believe, than ever was in any country in the fame time. The caufes affigned by Dr Price, for the depopulation of England, are : The increafe of our navy and army, and tlie conllant fupply of men nc- cefTary to keep them up;- A devouring capital ^oo large for the bo- dy that fiipports it ;— The three long and deftrudive continental war?, ©78 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV; wars, in "which we have been involved ; — The migrations to our fet- tlements abroad, and particularly to the Eaft and Weft Indies ; — The engroffing of farms ; — The high price of provifions; — But, above all, the increafe of luxury, and of our public taxes and debts *. Of thefe caufes, and the manner in which they operate, I will fpeak in the fequel of this difcourfe ; in the meantime, i will lay down fome general principles upon which the population or depo- pulation of every country muft depend, a thing which Dr Price has, jp.ot done. * Page 29. of Dr Price's EiTay. CHAP; Chap. Vr. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS* tyf CHAP. VI. Impojfible to difcover^ hut by an a&ual numeration of the people^ wbe* ther they are at prefent Increaftng or diminifiing in numbers. No Cenfus in Britain :-- Not likely that fuch a meafure would JJoow that ive are at prefent on the increafe, like the kingdoms of Sweden and Naples, which have^ of late, been actually numbered. The queftion only to be anfwered by an inveftigation into its caufes ; • advantages of this mode of inquiry, that if w^ are decreafufr in numbers we fhall dif cover a remedy for the evil. — Numbers of a people depend upon their morals, health, and occupations. Mtich co?ruption of morals in Efigland :^ Without good morals, no people . can be numerous : — Proof of the degeiieracy of morals in Britain from our colonies of convicts at Botany Bay: — Our crimes proceed not from bad natu-al dijpofittuus, but are the confequence of our wealth: — Of the wealth of the people of ErglcJid.-^No country, in the world, where there is more difea/e, —Of the fatal effeSfs of the conlumpdon: — Li///^ known to the antients. G> eat mcrtality of our children, particularly in London : — No fuch mortality in ant lent times, as we karn from the wtitings of Mofcs, Homer, and Pti- ny.^Of the occupatio?u of men in EngLnd ;-^all arts pra^ifcd there ;-^many ofthefe very hurtful to health : ■ Injlaiices of the/} in ■ mining and fmehing, glafs mcking^ gH^ing, and pin making. ^ Our grtatefl confumption of men, ly manufiarires and foreign . trade —Better to be employed in agriculture, the mofl healthy of all . tccupations.-^Bad confequences at prejent of the negka of agricuU inrc. iSo ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. ture. — No argument to he drawn from the increafe of great toiDns* — W'llduN. of ^leen Elifabeth and her mlnijlers^ who deliberated about refraining the growth of London^ WHETHER the numbers of people in England be increaGng or decieafing, cannot be made a quellion of faCl or of arith- metic. For that purpofe, it would be neceiTary to have an exa6l nu- meration of the people in fome pafl: time ; and alfo an enumeration of them in the prefent year. Now, as there is no ceufus^ or nume- ration, kept in England, it would be quite impollible to determine what the numbers of people were at any given time paft, even if we were not to go fo far back as Mr Howlet goes in his calculation, that is 48 years : And even to number the people in the pre- fent year, would be a work of great trouble, difficulty, and expence ; for, though I do not believe that it would be attended with any curfe from God, like David's numbering the people of Ifrael, yet, I i^m perfuaded, it would only ferve to publilli, to all Europe, our weaknefs in that important article, and how much inferior we are to two kingdoms mentioned by Dr Price in the Effay above men- tioned, the kingdoms of Sweden and Naples, both of w^hich, by a furvey of them taken for three years, have been found to be in* ereahng in numbers. As, therefore, we cannot determine this grand queflion upon any accurate furvey of the population of the whole country, and i(S make a queflion of fad of it, we muft try whether we cannot invef- tigate it in its caufes. And if we can difcover it in that way, it will be much more fatisfadory than if we could diicover it the other way ; becaufe, at the fame time that we afcertain, what I apprehend Chap. VI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 481 to be the fa£t, that our numbers are decreafing, we (liall find out the remedies that are to be applied for the cure of fo great an evil. And, ly?, It is evident, as I have elfewhcre faid *, that the num- bers of people in a country muft depend upon three things ; the Morals, the Health, and the Occupations of the people. I begin with the Morals, as without good morals no people can be great, good, or happy ; and, particularly, it is impoflible that they can be popu- lous. Now, as to morals in England, I think, I have faid enough, when I have mentioned the colonies of convicts which we fend to Bo- tany Bay f ; fuch colonies as no nation in the world, except Britain, ever fent out : Nor, indeed, can there be a worfe fign of the morals of any people, than that the jails of the country cannot contain the crimi- nals in it ; fo that if they are not executed, they muft be tranfport- ed to a very diftant country, at a great expence, and there main- tained at a ftill greater. We muft, therefore, I am afraid, conclude, that there are, in England, more crimes than in any other country we know : But which, as I have obferved elfewhere J, do not pro- ceed from a bad natural difpofition of the people, (for, on the contrary, I believe, as I have faid, that the people of England are naturally as well difpofed a people as any in the world,) but are the confequence of wealth, which neceffarily produces crimes and vices, and is the root of all evil ; nor can we be- lieve otherwife, if we give credit to what both our Scripture and philofophy tell us, and which is confirmed by what we learn of the hiftory both of antient and modern nations. No government, there- fore, or laws, can alter the nature of things : So that there muft be crimes, vices, and difeafes in England, unlefs the ufe of money be profcribed altogether, as it was in Sparta ; to which, neverthelefs, it found its way, and was, as the Oracle foretold, the ruin of the ftate. Vol. V. Nn I * Page 77. of this volume. ■y Page Z48. of ditto. i^ Page 77. of ditto. 282 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book VL I come now to fpeak of the Health of the people of Enj>land. That there are more difeafes in Europe at prefent than there were in antient times, feveral that were not fo much as known in thofe times, I think, is evident. As difeafes are the natund confequences of wealth, and as there is more wealth in England than in anyother coun- try of Europe, I am perfuaded, that there are likewife more difeafes : Nor do 1 know that there is any country in the world, where there is fo much difeafe, unlefs it may be fome counrries into which we have imported the fmall-pox and the ufe of fpiiituous liquors, as we have done into fome parts of North America. In other countries there may be fome particular difeafes more predominant than the fame are in England ; but I do not believe that there is any country where there are fo many difeafes, or where fo many people die of difeafe. There is one difeafe in England which is more frequent and more fatal than any other ; of which, as I have faid *, more die than of any other two difeafes : This difeafe is what we call a con- jMinption^ a difeafe very little known among the antients. And not only in towns is it fo mortal a difeafe, but even in the country, as I have fliown in the paflage above quoted. It is of this difeafe chiefly that children and young people die. As to children, it appears, by the bills of mortality of London, that not a half of thofe that are born live to be two years old f. This may appear to many incredible ; but what makes me think it not even improbable is a fad concerning an hofpital in London for children, where, as I was informed by one of the managers, out of 75 children, received into it in one year, 71 died J. There was an inquiry made not many years ago by a committee of the-Houfe of Commons, concern- ing the death of children in St. Giles hofpital in London : And I was tcld, by a member of the committee, that of 300, that had been born there in three years before the inquiry was made, not one was alive at the time of the inquiry. This is fuch a dcftrudion of the hu- man * Page 85. t Ibid. X Vol. 3. p. 194. Chap. VI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 285 man race, as never was heard of in any other age or country. T am per- fiiaded the mortality is not near fo great in other towns of Fngland ;, but, I believe, it will be found to be in proportion to the fize of the towns : In Manchefter, for example, it is certainly not fo great af in London, yet it is very great when compared with the mortility of a lit- tle town in its neighbourhood, viz. Monton *. When fo many children and young perfons die of this difeafe, it muft be the confequence of the difeafes or weaknefl'es of the parents ; and if there were no other reaion to make one believe that we liy;e in a worfe manner than any antient nation, this is fufficient : For there is no example in antient times of fuch a mortality among children; fo great, that, I am perfua- ded, not a fourth of thcfe that are born live to be men and women. Of this my father's family is a melancholy example; for of 17 children, that my mother bore, only four lived to be men and women. That there v/as no fuch mortality among children, in thofe very antient times recorded by Mofes, is evident ; for we have from him a very particular account of the children of the antient Patriarchs^ particularly of thofe of Abraham and Jacob, not one of whom is" laid to have died under age. The next moft antient record that we have, is the writings of Homer ; where we have recorded the geneologies of many of the- heroes of Greece, but no mention made of any of their children dying under age. That in later times, among the Greeks, fome children may have died young, 1 do not doubt ; but if as many, or near as many, of them had died as among us, I think it mull have been mentioned by fome of their hiftorians or phyficians. And I fay the fame with regard to the Romans, among whom there is one au- thor, who, as I have faid f, treats of difeafes, and mentions the num- N n 2 ber * See what I have faid of the mortality of Manchefter and Monton, in vol. 3. p. 195.. t Page 85. 284 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book VL ber of them, and who, if the mortality among children had been fo very great as it is among us, would certainly have mentioned it, as a faa moft remarkable. One reafon, among feveral that might be o-iven, why the Confumption is fo fatal a difeafe in Britain, is the ufe we make of coal for fewel, which poifons the air with its iulphureous vapours. There was an ad paffed, as I have been told, in England, foon after coal came to be ufed there for fewel, which was in the 13th century, prohibiting the ufe of it : And, as late as the days of Queen Elizabeth, there was an ad of her council forbidding any more than one fire of coal to be ufed in one houfe in London. The fmoke of coal, which arifes from a great town, obfcures and thickens the air fo much, that when you fee it at a diftance, you would think that no animal could breathe in it. In Italy, where they ufe no other fewel but wood, the Confumption, as 1 am informed, is a dif- eafe fo little known, that when a Britilh man comes thither to die of it, which very often happens, they think it is a plague, and burn his cloaths and even the bed he lay upon, to prevent the infedion being communicated. There is another difeafe very fatal in England, though not fo fa- tal as the confumption : It is the fmall-pox, of which I was told by a very eminent phyfician in London, that as many die now as be- fore inoculation and the cool regimen were pradifed : And by the laft bill of mortality of London, which I looked to, it appears, that about one fixth of all the deaths was by the fmall pox. Nor, in- deed, fhould 1 be furprifed, if it was afcertained, that more died now of the fmall-pox than before inoculation was in ufe : For by inoculation, the difeafe is certainly more propagated, and made more common than it was formerly ; and our conftitutions, I am afraid, are now fo much weaker as not to be able to fupport, as formerly, any difeafe, even in the moft favourable circumftances. There Chap. VI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 285 There is another difeafe of children called the meafles, which came from the Eaft as well as the fmall-pox. Of this difeale hardly any children died in my younger days, but now a confiderable number. When, therefore, to thofe exotic difeafes, I add thofe of our own growth, I am afraid I do not exaG;gerate, when I fay that the people of England are the moft difeafed people, that are, or per- haps ever were, on the face of the earth. Nor fhould we wonder at this, when we confider their diet and manner of living. The Englifh, both rich and poor, eat a great deal too much of animal food. Even at the tables of the great, one fel- dom fees any vegetables, unlefs. perhaps, at the fide-board, from whence they are very feldom called. Whereas in France, when I was there about 30 years ago, they had a whole fervice of vegeta- bles, which they called entremets. To dilute this fo grofs feeding, the better fort drink wine and brandy ; I mean port, of which the compofition is live parts wine and one part brandy, as I was informed by a gentleman who had lived in Portugal feveral years, and dealt in the commodity. And to be convinced of the mixture of fpirits in it, we need only throw a glafs of it into the fire, and it will produce a flame. Among the antients, the Scythians were reckoned barbarians, becaufe they drank wine without water. But what fhall we fay of men that drink wine and brandy without water, and fometimes three bottles of it, each man, (as I have heard) at a fitting. — The drink of the lower fort of the people of England is porter; for no common man in Eng- land will drink either fmall-beer or water if he can afford porter : And not only do labouring men in England drink this beer in great quanti- ties, but even thofe who lead the moft fedentary lives, iuch as tay- lors in London, who will drink, fitting crofs legged all the day upon a board, fix or feven pints of porter ; and hence comes a confumption of porter in London which is almoft incredible. And when we join to this immoderate drinking of porter, their drinking 2S6 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book VL fo much of a worfe liquor ftill, the moft unnatural and moft perni- cious drink that can be imagined, I mean fpirits, which are fewel for fire, fo much that they produce a quick and violent flame, by which houfes and fliips have been fet on fire and confumed, I think we may conclude, that the diet of the common people of England U more unwholefome than the diet of any other commonality in the world. I come now to fpeak of the laft thing I mentioned, upon whicH< the population of a country depends, I mean the Occupations of the people. In all nations, that have been long in a ftate of civility, many things are wanted, as I have elfewhere obferved *, which are not known in the natural ftate or in the firft ages of civility: And, for fupplying thofe artificial wants, many arts have been invented, fome of them very prejudicial to the health of the people. All arts of this kind, that ever were pradifed in any country, are pradifed in Eng-* land. Some of thefe may be faid to be neceflary for carrying on the bufinefs of fociety; fuch as mining, or digging for minerals ; and there is one mineral, which is become abfolutely neceflary in^ Britain ; I mean coal for fewel,* as we want wood fufficient for burning and other puipofes. Now, the occupation of mining is certainly pernicious to health, for it makes men live under ground like moles, and breathe an air very diflferent from the air of the open atmofphere, and always more or lefs tainted with noxious mineral, vapours. As to metals, after they are dug out of the mrao, there is- an operation performed upon them, which is called fmeiihig ; by which they are changed, by the operation of fire, from ore to me-- taU and fo made fit for the ufes of life. This operation is ftill more pernicious to health than the digging the ore out of the mine : And there is an iron work carried on in this country of Scotland, at Carron^. * Page 248. Chap. VL ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 2S7 Carron, in which, I have been told, the work-men there employed do not commonly live, while fo employed, above five years. There is another manufadure by the operation of fire, and a very ufeful, as well as plealant, manufadure, I mean glafs ; which, be- fides many other ufeful purpofes, gives us the benefit of enjoying the light and heat of the fun, and, at the fame time, defends us from wind, rain, and cold ; a benefit which the antient Greeks and Romans did not enjoy, as they had not the ufe of glafs windows. This manufadure is carried on in what is called glafs-houfes ; whicli muft be exceedingly heated, and, therefore, are very unwholefomc to thofe who work in them : And, in general, all the works, that are performed by fire, are hurtful to health, fuch as gilding ; and fo is J in-making, as I am informed, becaufe in it a good deal of mercury is employed. But the occupations, that make the greateft confumption of men in Britain, are our trade, and our manufadures which furnilh the ma- terials by which we carry on our trade. Of thefe, and of the def- trudion of men by the colonies we are obliged to have in foreign countries, and in climates moft deftrudive of our health, I have fpoken in the beginning of chapter fecond of the fecond book of this volume. I will add here, upon the fubjed of manufadures, that there is one manufadure, come lately much into fafhion in England, which, I believe, is more ruinous to the fpecies than any of the arts 1 have hitherto mentioned. It is the manufadure of cotton, in which children, from the age of fix, are employed, and kept clofe at work, under overfeers, by night as well as by day. I am told that there is a village near to Ferrybridge, where there are 400 children kept in this flavifh confinement. Now, fuppofe children employed in this unnatural way, fhould efcape a fuddcn death, they mufl:, of necef- fity, lay in the feeds of difeafe j and it is impoflible, by the nature of things^ 2SS ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book VI. things, that children, who fhould be brought up in the open air, and allowed to play themfelves there, like the young of other animals, caa ever come to be ftrong and healthy men and women, when they are. brought up and kept at work in a prilbn. I will conclude what I have to fay upon the occupations of the people of England with obferving, that if, inftead of manufajftures,, which are carried on in factories and great towns, where fo many men are confumed by vices and difeafes, the commodity we export- ed were corn, which is produced by agriculture, the mod healthy of all occupations, we fhould, at the fame time that we improve the- country, give health and ftrength to the people, and numbers too§ if the farms are not too large, and are cultivated by cottagers. About JO or 60 years ago, as I am informed, we exported corn to the value of feveral hundred thoufand pounds; but now things are fo much altered,^ that in England we do not produce corn fufficient for the maintenance ©f the inhabitants, as we may learn from the experience of the year in which I wrote this, viz. 1795 ; when there' was a very great fcarcity in England, not by the badnefs of the crop, but by the war preventing the importation of grain, which is now ufually brought from Poland and other northern countries. In this year, 1796, when 1 am printing what I wrote ia 1795, the fcarcity of grain is fo great, that it has been imported into England, not only from the northern countries of Europe but from Africa and America, and rice ^Vom the Eaft Indies. I would, therefore, have our governors confKler, whetlieR we fhould not, in our prefent fituation, ftudy rather than think of making conquefts in the Wefl Indies, which are not only made, but kept even in time of peace, at an expence of men fuch as Britain cannot afford. Thus, Chap. VI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 289 Thus, I think, I have fliown, from confiderin:^ the three things I have mentioned, the morals, the health, and occupations of men, upon which the population of every country mull depend, that England is not well peopled. Thofe who travel in England upon the high roads, from one great town to another, and who think, that becaufe there are great towns in a country, it muft, there- fore, be populous, will, I know, be of a very different opinion : And they will think, that what Julius Gaifar has faid of the population of England in his time, is true of it at prefent. If great towns mul- tiply the numbers in a country, wc have the comfort of thinking that our numbers are every year incrcafmg ; for it is "certain, that our great towns are always growing greater. London particularly is increafmg every day, and has been increafmg ever fmce the days of Queen Elifabeth, when the church of St. Martin's in the Fields, which may now be faid to be in the middle of the city, was truly, as the name imports, in the fields ; and, accordingly, we are told that Queen Elifa- beth was in ufe to ride to it behind her Lord Chamberlain. But even at that time it was beginning to increafe fo much, that it was under deliberation to put a flop to the growth of it ; which, I think fliows the wifdom of the government that was then in England ; for, as I have fhown, great towns, fo far from increafing the population of a country, confumc the people in it. We are therefore, in the next chapter, to inquire, whether the country, which is the true mother and nurfe of men, be fo peopled in Enc>-- land, that it can fupply the wafte by great towns, by trade and ma- nufadures, and by the other occupations I have mentioned, which, altogether, confume fo many men. Vol. V. O o CHAP. 390 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book VII. CHAP. VIL The mhahhatits of the country co7iftJl of three orders of men ; — The no- bility and gentry ; the farmers ; and the cottagers, — Land formerly divided amon^ a ^reat number of nobility and ge?Jtry^ but noiv in the hands of a feijo great proprietors : — In fome countries hardly an ejlate of 50 1. per annum. — The farmers now as much diminified in fiumber^ from the increafe of farms ; — of ivhich there are fome in England of T^oooX. rent, — The Author^ from his frequent jour-- flies to London^ on horfeback, qualified to judge of the number and, Jize of farms. — Infance of a fingle houfe in a pariflD, — Of the num- ber of cottagers in England ; — their great utility : — They are the breed of fcrvants^ labourers^ mechanics^ tradefmen^ fotdlers^ and fallors :—Few cottages to be feen In England; — and theft confined. to. hamlets \ — proof of cottages being once more frequent, — The num- hers of E'.^land infifjiclent to the demand of trade ^ manufadlureSy and war : — Afatute of population^ like that of Henry the VIL ne^ ceffary —Small farms conducive to population ; — exemplified in the original fize of the Roman farms of two Jugera. — The great quan- tity of paflure ground in England, which is neceffary for feeding cattle^ to fipply th^ immenfe confumptlon of fiefh^ miifl prevent the increafe of the Population of that kingdom^ even were farms lefs, — Another caufe^ the quantity of ground employed In ralfing barley for dif illation : — A third caufe, the keeping fo many horfes for rui a I occupations^ which might be better performed by oxen; and alfo for luxury^ vanity y and indolence. — Thefe three caiifes confidcred^ A fourth., the great quantity of wqjle lands and commons, — Conclu- fioUy that the number of inhabitants muH be dlmlniflAng, The Chap. VII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 291 THE inhabitants of the country, as diftinguiflied from the inha- bitants of the towns, confift of three orders of men : The land- holders, or proprietors of land, under whom I comprehend the no- bility and gentry ; the farmers ; and, laftly, the cottagers. To begin with the landholders: — I never heard it difpu^ed, that the number of them is very much diminifhed. They were, in more antient times, very numerous in England : For the country was full of yeomen, or fmall proprietors of land, who made the ftrength of the Englifh mi- litia. Thefe have now almoft altogether difappeared ; and there are only fome remains of them preferved, as I am informed, in Kent : So that the whole country is now occupied by great eftates of nobi- lity and gentry j fo great, that, as I am informed, in fome counties of England, there is hardly fo fmall an eftate to be found, as one of 500 1. a year. The next order of men I mentioned in the country, was the far- mers ; a moft ufeful race of men in eveiy country. Of the numbers of them, and of the cottagers, I can judge better than I can do of the numbers of gentry and landholders, as I have travelled very much in England on horfeback ; by which, according to the obfer- vation of the Manchefter man *, you fee the country, and how it is peopled and cultivated, much better than thofe who travel in the or- dinary way in clofe carriages. As to the farmers; they, I believe, are as much, or more, diminilhed, in proportion to their numbers, than the landholders. There are farmers in England, who, as I have been informed, farm above 3000 1. a year: And I have feenmyfelfa farm, about 30 miles north of London, of which the tenant rents the whole parifh : And as the parlbn happens to have another benefice where he refides, the farmer's houfe is the only houfe in the parilli; ior, as he cultivates the land by unmarried fervants, whom he keeps in the O o 2 houfe, * P. 271 of this vol. .292 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book VII. hoiife, or by day labourers, that he gets from the neighbouring town or village, he has no cottager living upon his farm, fuch as we have in Scotland, as I fliall obferve afterwards. Such farms may be rec- koned the defolation of a country ; and, therefore, the IngrofTuig of farms is very properly mentioned by Dr Price *, as one caufe of the. depopulation of England. I come now to fpeak of the third and lafl: clafs of men in the country, which Ihould be by far the moft numerous ; and, indeed, it is from the number of them that we denominate a country popu- lous or not populous. They are, too, of the greateft utility in a country ; and, indeed, I may fay of indifpenfible necefTity : For they are the breed of fervants, day labourers, mechanics, and tradefmen of all kinds, and, what I think ot the greatell confequence, of fol- diers of the beft kind ; for they furniih that rujiicoriim inafiula milU ium proles^ with which the Romans conquered the world. They furnifh alfo failcrs for the navy ; and, in fnort, they fi^l all the lower offices of peace and war, of number infinite and of abfolute necefh- tv for carrying on the bufmefs of the nation. But in travelling through England, 1 fee towns, villages, and farms, though not near fo many farms as, 1 think, fliould be ; but of cottages 1 hardly fee one by itfelf ; whereas, in a populous country, the landfcape fhould be dotted with cottages. This, I am perfuaded, was the cafe when Ju- lius Csefar law the country of England, which very naturally made him^ fay that there was in it infmita hom'tnum multiiudo ; and he adds, cre- hcrrwia atdificia f. What remains of cottagers in England, I am told is to be found in little villages or hamltts as they call them, but very few upon the farms, where I think they ought chiefly to be. There was a time, I am perfuaded, when the cottagers were more numerous in England ; and the memory of them is ftill prelerved in fome • See p. 278 of this vol. t Comment, lib. 5. cap. 12. Chap. VIL ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 293 fome lands that I have been fliown, wliich arc called cottagcr-laiids^ but where there are now no coltcigcs. Thus, I think, 1 have made it appear, that the country of Eng- land, as diilinguifhed from the towns, is not peopled as it ought to- be, not fufficiently to keep up the number of inhabitants in the towns, or to fupply the number of men neceflary for carrying on our manufadures, trade, and navigation, for maintaining our fettle- ments on account of trade in countries fo diftant, and carrying on wars produced by that trade and thofe fettlements; — in fhort, a o-reat- er demand for men than perhaps any nation ever needed; and, par- ticularly, while 1 am writing this, there is fuch a demand for men in Britain, as, 1 believe, never was before, but which is neceffary, as we are carrying on a w^ar in Europe, Aha, Africa, and America,, by fea and by land. If this be fo, I think our miniftry and leglflature iliould coir- fider, whether it be not proper, that lome llatute fhould be en- aded like that of the fourth year of the reign of Henry the VI!. cap. 16. forb.dding any man to take a farm in the iiland of Wight, and county of Southampton, or more than one farm, where- of the rent altogether exceeds the fum of 10 merks yearly. The act proceeds upon the narrative : ' That the ifle is lately decayed of people, by reafon that many towns and villages have been beaten down, and the fields ditched and made paftures for beafts and cat- tle ; and alfo many dwelling places, farms, and farm-holds, have, of late time, been ufed to be taken in one man's hold and hands, that, of old time, were wont to be in many feveral perfons holds and hands ; and many feveral honfe-holds kept in them, and thereby much people multiplied, and the fame Ifle thereby well inhabited ; the which now, by the occafion forefaid, is delolatc and not inhabited, but occupied with beads and cattle ; fo that if * haftv 294 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book VIL * hafty remedy be not provided, that Ifle cannot be kept and defen- * ded, but will be open and ready to the hands of the King's ene- * mies, which God torbid.' — By this a€t it appears, that the prac- tice was then begun, of making great tarms, and inclofmg great tradts of ground ; to put a ftop to which, this aCt was made * j and which is, therefore, very, properly called, by the Englifh lawyers, an aB of population. Agriculture is the moft ufeful art in all countries : By it the peo- ple live ; and it is an occupation more conducive to health than any other ; and if it be properly carried on in fmall farms, it contributes more to the population of a country than any other occupation. The divifion of the lands of antient Rome into farms of two Jugeray that is about an acre and a half Englifh, laid the foundation of the Ro- man grandeur, and made them multiply more than, I believe, any nation ever did in the fame time. But if the country of England were divided into fmaller farms, and better cultivated than it is, there are fundry reafons why the land cannot maintain fo many inhabitants as it might otherwife do. In xhtjirfl place, the confumption of flefh in England is much greater than, I believe, it is in any other country of Europe : For not only a great deal of it is confumed in the houfes of the great and rich, by the fervants as well as the mafters, but the confumption of it among the lower fort of people is very great, not only in towns but in the country, w^iere it is not only the diet of the farmers but of their fervants, who commonly eat of it thrice a day, viz. at break- faft, dinner, and fupper. Now, land, by the paflure of cattle and fheep, cannot maintain near fo many people as by corn. But there is another ufe made of land in England, not for produ- cing food to the people, but what may be called poiibn ; 1 mean bar- ley '^ See Chancel. Bacon's Commentaries on this ?,€t. Chap. Vir. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 295 ley for diftlllatlon. I am inform -d, by a correfpondent I have in Manchefter, that there is as much ground employed, about rhat town and Birmingham, in raifmg barley for making fpirits, as would pro- duce corn fufficient to maintain 10,000 people every year. Another reafon is the great number of horfes that are maintained in England ; for which purpofe a great part of the land, and of the very heft land, is kept in grafs. Befides the grafs, which is employed in the pafture of To many horfes, they confume a great deal of oats, without which horfes can do very little work. And this is the diffe- rence betwixt them and oxen, who get no corn, and yet can do a great deal of work, particularly in the plough : For which purpofe they only were employed by the Romans, and not horfes * ; a; id the fame, 1 am told, is the cafe in Italy at prefent. Whereas in Eng- land, the whole work of hufbandry is done by horfes, nor do 1 re- member ever to have feen or heard of an oxen-plough in England : Which is the more extraordinary, that they have a race of working oxen, one of the beft, I believe, that is in Europe ; I mean thofe that are bred in Lancalhire. Of this race, 1 harve a breed wliich I employ in ploughing ; and with two of thefe oxen, I make as good Vvork, and as much of it, in the fame timer, as any of my neighbours with two horfes : And 1 employ them not only m the plough, but in carriages, which we call wains in Scotland. Witb a couple of thefe oxen, I have had a loaded wain drawn 15 miles in a day, and the wain brought back again the lame day : And this they did three times a week. Now, I do noe think tliat the common working horfes could do more. Yet, even \n Lancafliire, where thofe oxen are bred, the farmers do not employ them in ploughing; but commonly plou,:h * There is a palTage m Horace, which fliows that liorfcs were as little ufed by the Romans for ploughing, as cattle were for the I'atldle ; for fpeaking of men tliat dcfircd to do what they were not fit for, he compares them to an ox that wanted to be fad- died and ridden, and to a horie that wanted to plough. Optat epixippia bos pi^er, optat arare caballus. Epift. 14. lib. I. ^6 ANT TENT METAPHYSICS. Book VIL plough with three horfes, and fometlmes with four, and a driver. Whereas my plough, with two oxen, goes without a driver. But bcfides the horfes that are thus unneceffarily employed in ru- i\il work, the number of them that are ufcd in equipages for vanity and the indulgence of eafe, is very great ; and they are all fed with oats as well as hay, and with the befl grafs in the fummer. Now, when we compute the quantity of ground that mud be employed for fat- tening the cattle that are eatten in England, for railing barley to be ufed in diflillation, and, lajll)\ what is employed in feeding fo many horfes with grafs, hay, and oats, it muft make, altogether, a great quantity, and of good land in England, which, though it might not all be fit for producing crops of wheat, would certainly, if it were cultivated, produce oats and barley. Now, I reckon oats a very good food for men as well as for horfes : And, accordingly, in Lancalhire, v/hich produces as good men, or better than any other country of England, and the fineft women, the bread, which the in- habitants eat, is chiefly oat-bread. For my own part, while I live in my country houfe, 1 eat no bread, excepting oat and barley-bread, but chiefly barley-bread, which, v/hen well baked and prepared, I think the fineft of all bread. When I join to thefe confideratlons the great quantity of land in England that lies wafte in uncultivated commons, and the diviilon of the cultivated land into fuch great farms, 1 thiak it is true, what I have faid, that the land of England, as it is employed at prefenr, does not maintain near the number of inhabitants that it might maintain : And, upon the whole, it is to me evident, that the population of England is not fo great as it was in the days of Julius Casfar, or even in later times, under the feudal governmenr, unlefs we are to fuppofe that great towns, fuch as London, add to the populatioti of a coun- try ; whereas, the fad truly is, that they difpeople the country, by drawing m.en from it to be confumed by vices and difeaf'es. CHAP. Ghap.Vm. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. £97 C H A IP. VIIL ^hc population of Scotland conjtdered i—Miich^ on this fubjcEi^ to ht learned from Sir John Sinclair's Statiftical Account of Scotland. — = ^he work not yet complete : — // comprehends the nuinhers of people in the towns as ijoell as in the country. — Towns^ of late^ much in,- creafed : — But thefe diminifh the numt'crs In the country. — V?icer- taln ivhether the numbers In the country are increafed :■ -They are ^imlnifhed In the parifo of Fordoun ftnce 1771. — For a general view of the population of Scotland^ its inhabitants mufl be cotfidered feparately^ as landholders ^ farmers ^ and cottagers: — The landhol- ders much deer e a fed. — The great eflates^ in antient times ^ no objec- ilon to thlsy as they 'were pojjejfed by vajfals : — Of vaffals was com^ pofed the army of 20,000 horfe^ that Invaded England in Robert Bruce^s time, under the Earls of Douglas and Murray : — Thefe vaf- fals had their lands poffeffed by farmers and cottagers. — To the military vaffals fucceeded feuers and wadfetters : — But thefe now all bought up or redeemed. — The landholders of fuperlor rank, our nobility , and gentry, alfo much dlmlnlfljed : — Not much above d half of our nobility, at the Union, exlfllng ; and our gentry very much decreafed by extln51lon of families, by female fucceffion, and by Jales of their eflates to great proprietors:— Proof of this from Ragman s roll. — The extinction of men of antient families not to be repaired:-^ The King may make a man noble, but he cannot make him a gentle^ Uian^'^^The lofs of men of family not to be repaired by any wealth: — They ^vere the governing men In Scotland In antient times : — So much dhnlnlfhed of late, that If they continue to dlmlnifjj, the King will not get officers from among them for his feet and army.-^ The Vol. V. P p farmers 298 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book VIL f rme^s in Scotland much deer enfe din number: — Formerly few farms exceeding ^o L of rent; now farms of ^^^o I. of ^00 L and even of 1000 /. — Sheep farms ^ of great extent^ pff^Jf^^ h ^^^^ tenant^ which formerly employed 1,^ families. — Cottagers ought to be much more nu- merous than both the landholders or farmers. — In Scotland cottar gers^ formerly very numerous ; — were almofi the only farm fcr- vu fits :— New they are difmiffed from mofl farms ^ and the work performed by unmarried houfefervants : — In fiance the deflation of one f rm by this method. — The fcarcitv of the fervants and their high wages ^are in hart tending to corredf this abufe. — Cafe of a farm of the Author s, where only a boy is kept in the houfe; and^ though the tenant does not pay above 30 /. of rent ^ there are 1 2, families of cottagers :— Another tenant, who poffeffes only 8 acres of arable land^ keeps "^fa^ milies of cottagers : — A fmall village of the Author s p of effed by 7 tenants., who occupy 3 acres a piece. — Confequences of fuch great po- pulation-^ - 200 Individuals in a tradi of ground of the Author s not paying 1 00 /. a year. — State of the Author s ozvn farm as. to popula- tion'^ — cultivated by one unmarried fervant and a boy in the houfe y and by 21 cottagers and fmall tenants. — Advantages refulting from the population of a country. — Many great improvers depopulate their ef- tates. — Praife of Mr Barclay ofUrie : — An account of his improve- ments., and of the benefits be has thereby conferred on the county of Kincardine.— Cottagers., though much dimini/Jjed in Scotland .,flitl more fo in England. — The number of houfe fervants., kept by the rich and greats multiply little: — Very different among theantient Romans; and^ in former times y in Great Britain. — Service fill an inheritance infome parts f the Highlands of Scotland. Our flanding ar.idcs contribute ■ nothi/g to population. — Population a mofl material part of the politic calfyftem ; and^ therefore^ much infifled on. — Proof from our pre- pent exertions by fea and landy that our population is very confider- ^Iflg ; — // might be increafed by proper means. — Ourfttuation^ with reffeB Ghap. VIIT. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 299 refpeSl to popiilatmi and finance^ much better than that of France : — Favourable inference from thence deduced. OF the numbers in Scotland, we have an account that may be more depended upon than any we have of the numbers in England : What I mean is, Sir John Sinclair's Statijlical Account (as he calls it) of Scotland^ made up from the reports given in by the mi- nifters of the feveral parifhes of Scotland of the numbers of their parifhioners. And thefe reports, I think, may be depended upon, if they are all as accurately made up as the account of the numbers in the parifh of Fordoun, in the county of Kincardine, where 1 live, is made up by the two minifters, father and (on, of that parifh ; who, every year, in going through the parifh, for the pui^ofe of catechifmg the people, make out an account of all the men, women, and children in it. But Sir John's Account is not yet complete ; for though he has publifhed 13 volumes of it, it is faid four or five vo- lumes more are expeded. In this account, he includes the towns ; which, undoubtedly^ are, of late years, very much increafed in Scot- land as well as in England, particularly the capitol, which, in my memory, is twice as great as it formerly was. But the queflion is concerning the population of the country in Scotland as diftinguiih- ed from the towns j for the towns, as I have faid, fo far from in- creafmg the population of the country, in general diminifh it. Al- though, therefore, it fhould appear from Sir John's Account, when it is finifhed, that the numbers in general, of the whole parifhes, are increafed from 1755, when their numbers were reported to Dr Webfter, down to 1790, when Sir John's Account was taken j it would not from thence follow, that the numbers in the country pa- riflies were increafed. Of the (late, therefore, of the population of the country pariflics, we cannot judge from what Sir John has hitherto publillied. All I can fay, with any certainty upon the fub- P p 2 jea, 300 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book VIL jeCt, IS, that, though the numbers in the parifh of Fordoun, where I live, have increafed 368 fmce 1755, they are diminifhed fince our old- eft minifter came to the parifli, which is 2^ years ago, 142 ; and, ac-- cordingly, Sir John has fo ftated the information he got from the minifter. But in order to have a general view of the population of the coun- try of Scotland, as diftinguiftied from the towns, we muft divide the inhabitants of the country, in the fame manner as have divided the inhabitants of the country of England, into three or- ders of men, the landholders, the farmers, and the cottagers. The jfr/? of thefc are as much, or more, diminifhed in numbers than thofe of England ; although it appears to mc that there were antiently m< Scotland greater eftates than any we hear of in England. The Earl of Murray, King Robert the Bruce's nephew, had an eftate in land" which extended from the river Spey to the frith of Invernefs, and from fea to fea on either fide. But though he held all thefe lands of the crown, yet, I am perfuaded, that he did not poflefs, as pro- prietor, much above a third of them. And, I think, I have good rea- fon to fay fo, when it appears from our records, that the Marquis of Huntly, a predeceflbr of the prefent Duke of Gordon, befides vari- ous extenfive eftates in different counties, had, in 1638, an eftate in the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Murray, called the Earldom of Huntly, of which the olc^ extent^ (that is the rule by which the land- lax in Scotland was formerly paid,) was altogether 1000 1. But the record diftinguifhes betwixt what part of that Earldom the Mar- quis pofTefTed In property^ which was valued at 375 1. and what he pofTcftcd only 2.^ fuperior^ which was 625 1. Now, an eftate of this value, in old extent, was a prodigious eftate, when we confi- der that the whole old extent of Scotland was only 48,249 h ex- clufive of the Bifhoprics, which were 15,000!. The record, as I have faid, diftinguifhes betwixt the Marquis's property and luperio* r'lty ; which lafl muft have been polTefTed by his vaifuls ; For the cuuom Chap. VIII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 301 ciiflom was, in thofe days, that fiich great tenants of the crown feued their eftates in fmall tenantries, to be held of themfelves by miUtary tenure, as they held their own great eftates of the crown ; and their glory, and what gave them power and figure in the ftate, was the number of thofe military vafTals, ready to at- tend them whenever they were required, and to hazard their lives for them and their families. In this manner the country of Scotland' was, of old, full of gentry : For thofe vafTals, who held of the great lords by military tenure, or what was called noble taiure^ in thofe days, were all gentlemen. It was this that enabled the Earl of Mur- ray, above mentioned, and Earl Douglas to invade England, in the reign of King Robert Bruce, at the head of 20,000 horle, who were all gentlemen and their attendants ; For the lower fort of people in Scotland were not, in thofe antient times, mounted, to ferve as iol- diers, upon horfeback. And thofe military vaflals, of the great lords, had, under them, other vafTals, who held of them in the fame manner as they held of the great lords; that is, by military fervice alfo ; and befides thefe, they had tenants and cottagers, who cultivated their lands; — So that the country, at that time, muft have been full of peo- ple. And even after the feudal militia was laid afide, the land ftill continued to be well peopled with gentlemen and landholders : For it was feued out by the great lords to men who paid them feu-duties in money inftead of military fervice ; or, if the lord needed to bor- row money, he pledged fo much of his land for payment of it. This is what, in Scotland, is called a wadfet ; and the wadfttter pof- fefTed the lands, and reaped the fruits of them for payment of the in* tereft of his money. So that, by feuers and wadfetters, tenants and cottagers, the country muft have been very well peopled ; for the farms, in thofe days, were not large, not near fo large as they are now ; and they were cultivated chiefly by cottagers, who lived upon the farm, in a little village called a cottar-town. But things are now greatly altered; The feus are muftly fold to great proprietors of land, ©r. 502 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book VIL or have run together either by purchafe or by fucceflion ; and the wadfets, which were very numerous fome years ago, are now almoft *11 redeemed. This is the flate of the landholders of the lower rank in Scotland, •who are certainly very much dlminilhed in number. Nor is the di- minution of the number of landholders of luperior rank, I mean our nobles and gentry, lefs in proportion to their numbers. As to our nobility, not much above a half of them remain that were exifting at the time of the Union : And as to our gentry, they are fo much diminiihed in number by the families dying out, or by their ef'- tates being carried to other families by heirs female, or by be- ing fold to rich men and great proprietors of other eftates, that if, in the next 60 years, there be the fame deftrudion of them, as in .the laft 60 which have fallen under my obfervation, there will be -very few families of our antient gentry remaining. There is a monument preferved in the Tower of London, which fl-iows how much the flate of the gentry of Scotland is altered, and, I muft fuppofe, diminiflied fmce the time of Edward the I. of Eng- land. The monument I mean, is a roll containing the names of our gentry, who fvvore allegiance to Edward, when he conquered Scot- land. This roll is commonly called Ragman s roll -y and the number contained in it is about 2000 landholders, befides the inhabitants of the towns and burghs, of which fome of the principal perfons are nam- ed ; and it is added, Communitas Burgi, But thefe were not all the landholders of Scotland, but only thole on the fouth of the Friths of Tay, Forth, and Clyde, and of the ihires, on the eaftern coaft to Aber- Chap. IX. ANTTENT METAPHYSICS. flies with two or wath four wings, upon which a French author, as I have faid *, has written a volume. And when we add to this, all the variety that is produced in the feveral parts of this compofition, by the different polities and con- ftitutions of government, as I have obferved, in tlie feveral na- tions, and the different cuftoms and manners thereby produced, to- gether with the many different occupations of men, inftead of won- dering at his being fo various an animal, it would be a thing fo w^on- dcrful, that it could not be believed, if he were not an animal as various as can well be imagined. And here I conclude the hiftory of this moft various animal Man whom I have traced through the feveral ftates, in w^hich he has ap- peared on this earth ; firft as a mere brute, living in a favao-e and a folitary fl:ate, of which I have given fome inftances that have lately been difcovered ; then as a herding animal, but without arts not even with the art of fpeech, of which the Orang Outang is a memorable example ; then in the family ftate, of which our facred books fur- nifli us an excellent inftance, in Abraham and his defcendants for fome generations ; and, laft of all, in civil fociety, under a reo-ular government, and cultivating arts and fciences, of which the firft and beft example is to be found in Antient Egypt. * Preface to vol. 4. p. 2. END OF THE FIFTH VOLUME. v H'^^ ^(^Abviian-^^^ ^<9Aavd8niv.^ "^•JJlJONVSOl^^ ^^% 3 \ AWEUNIVERy/A ^lOSANCflfX;> c> ii /^ O .^WEUNIVER%. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 . Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. ^lOSANCElfj>. M5 ■iO'' \m\mi^^' ^OF-CAIIFOR^ ^OFCAIIFO;?^ %. "^/sjiaAiNrtjwv >&Aaviian# '^■''- "'"""^ ^ .^,OFCAIIFO% "^/i'a^Aifi 000 001 54: ^MIBRARYQc ^ ^OFCAllFOfti^ ^ ^&Aavaan-# ^^AHVjiani^ \EUNIVER% "^XJlJDNVSOl^ ^OFCAIIFO^^ ^OFCALIFORj^ ^\WEUNIVERS'/^ ^-QiJONVSOl^ ^lOSANCElfx^ %il3AWn3V^ ^UIBRARYO^ ^HIBRARYQ^^ .^MEDKIVERy/A ^•^OJIWJJO^ ^tfOJllVJJO'^ ^lOSAHCElfj-^ 8 ^^ — -'- ^TilJONVSOl^ %ii3AlNn3WV ^lllBRARYd?/r ^.I/OJIIVJJ^ ^lOSAHCElfX;> ■^/S83AINn-3V\V .M^OFCAllFORi;, ,^,OFCAllFO% .^WEUNIVERS//, vr Y<, ^&Aavaain^ .^ - ■^ "^/.Sa^AINfllV^^ ^OF-CALIFO, t?Aava8ii# ^ ^lllBRARY(?/r ^WE•U^JIVERS'/A ^lOSANCElfj]^ "^ \^i\m\^ ^XJlJONYSOl^ -< %a3AlNa3W^^ ^>^11IBRARY(> ^IIIBRARYC/ ^^OJITVDJO^ .WEUNIVERS/^ ^