^_i=l?- 
 
 z:../ 
 
 -*«: 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 
 PRINCETON, N.J. • 
 
 ^^^ ^ARE" boot: 
 
 (7a.se,. ..^>^ ^Sr<. Division 
 
 SheJf, f (c^ ^ — Section 
 
 Bm\k, i/' ^^ No. 
 
•^ — \ V 
 
 ^ "-^y^- 
 -s^^^*^ 
 

A 
 
 VINDICATION 
 
 OF 
 
 DIVINE PROVIDENCE; 
 
 DERIVED FROM A 
 
 PHILOSOPHIC AND MORAL SURVEY 
 
 OF 
 
 NATURE AND OF MAN. 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES HENRY BERNARDIN 
 
 DE SAINT PIERRE. 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE STUDIES OF NATURE. 
 
 MISERIS SUCCURRERB DISCO. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 HENRY HUNTER, D. D. 
 Minister of the scots church, london wall. 
 
 FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 %^^ 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 WORCESTER : 
 Frinted for J. NANCREDE, No. 49, MARiaoROvca Street, Bostow* 
 
 ^797' 
 
VINDICATION 
 
 OF 
 
 DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 
 
 STUDY NINTH. 
 
 OF SOME GENERAL LAWS OF NATURE. 
 
 AND, FIRST, 
 
 OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 
 
 W E fliall divide thefe Laws into l^dcvfsphyficat, and Laws 
 moral. We fhall firft examine, in the fequel of this Vol- 
 ume, fome phyfical Laws common to all the Kingdoms 
 of Nature ; and, in the following Study, ftiall make the 
 application of them to plants, in conformity to the Plan 
 propofed in the commencement of this Work. We Ihall, 
 afterwards, proceed to the confideration of moral Laws ; 
 and fhall endeavour to unfold in thefe, as well as in the 
 phyfical Laws, the means of diminifhing the fum of hu- 
 man wretchednefs. 
 
 I muft make frequent appeals to the candor of my 
 Readers. I am. prefuming to open a path hitherto unat- 
 tempted, I dare not flatter myfelf with the belief, that 
 my progrefs and fuccefs keep pace with the ardor of my 
 imagination, and the anticipations of my heart. But the 
 imperfeft materials, which 1 have bufied myfelf in coU 
 
4 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 ]e£ling, may, perhaps, one day, aflifl men of greater abil- 
 ity, and in a happier fituation, in raifing to Nature a tem^' 
 pie more worthy of her. Recolleft, my dear Reader, 
 that all I proraifed you was the frontifpiece and the ru- 
 ins of it. 
 
 OF CONFORMITY.* 
 
 Though Conformity be a perception of our reafon, 1 
 place it at the head of phyfical Laws, becaufe it is the 
 firft feeling which we endeavour to gratify in examining 
 natural objefts. Nay, there is a connexion fo intimate 
 between the phyfical charafter of thofe objefts, and the 
 inftinft of every being poflefled of fcnfibility, that a col- 
 our, fimply, is fufficient to roufe the paflions of animals. 
 A red objeft puts the bull into a rage, and fuggefts to 
 moll fowls and fifties the idea of prey. The objefts of 
 Nature difplay, in Man, a feeling of a higher order, inde- 
 pendent of his wants ; it is that of conformity. It is by 
 means of the multiplied conformities of Nature that Man 
 has formed his own reafon ; for rtajon means nothing 
 elfe but the relation^ or conformity^ of things that exift. 
 Thus, for example, if I examine a quadruped, the eyelids, 
 
 * I do not know any finglc word iu our language which exprefTcs clofe- 
 ly the import of the French word convenance. It fignifies JuitakUnefSy cw- 
 flfporidence, the exafl adaptation of one thing to another. I employ the 
 term conformity, as coming the ncareft to our Author's ide« of any one that 
 occured to my miod. Whoever has attempted tranflation mult, Ircqucntly, 
 have felt the difficulty of rendering certain words by exaftly equivalent 
 zvords, though he was at no lofs where general meaning and expreflion were 
 cpncerncd ; for there is no pcrfeft convenaim between language and lan- 
 guafre. 1 wifti it to be uoderflood, then, that wherever the word conjormity 
 occurs, in ihe immediate fecjucl of this Tranflation, the meaning is, a com- 
 plete coincidence, congruity, or tallying of objcft with nbjc£f, as a bonc 
 fitted to its focket, as the undulations of a paper check to ihofe of i«s coua. 
 tcr check, as eye to eye, hand to hand, foot to foat ; and it ajiplies equally 
 fo natural and to moral objtfls. H. H. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^ 
 
 which it can raife or let fall, at pleafure, prefcnt to me 
 conformities with light ; when I look at the form of his 
 feet, I fee a conformity to the foil which he is defigned to 
 inhabit. It is impoflible for me to conceive a determinate 
 idea of thefe, without combining, on the fubje^:, various 
 feelings of conformity, or of the want of it. Nay, the 
 moft material objefts, and fuch as have not, in llri6lnefs 
 of fpeech, any decided form, cannot prefent themfelves 
 to us without thofe intelleftual relations. A ruftic groU 
 to, or a fteep rock, pleafe or give pain, according as they 
 prefent to us the ideas of repofe or of obfcurity, ot per- 
 fpeftive or of precipice. 
 
 Animals have a fenfibility only of objefts which have 
 particular conformities to their wants. It may be affirm* 
 ed that they have, in this refpeft, a Ihare of reafon as per- 
 fe6l as our own. Had Newton been a bee, he could not, 
 with all his geometry, have conftrufted his cell in a hive, 
 without giving it, as the honey bee has done, fix equal 
 partitions. But Man differs from animals, in his capaci- 
 ty of extending this fentiment of conformity to all the re- 
 lations of Nature, however foreign they may be to his per-, 
 fonal demands. It is this extenfion of reafon which has 
 procured for him, by way of eminence, the denomination 
 of a rational animal. 
 
 It is unqueftionably true, that if all the particular ra-, 
 tionality of all animals were united, the fum would prob- 
 jibly tranfcend the' general reafon of Man ; for human rea^ 
 fon has devifed moft of its arts and crafts, entirely from 
 an imitation of their productions ; befides, all animals 
 come into the world with their peculiar induftry, whereas 
 Man is under the neceflity of acquiring his, at the ex- 
 penfe of much time and refleftion ; and, as I have juft ob- 
 ferved, by imitating thp induftry and fivill of another. 
 But Man excels them, not only by uniting, in himfelf 
 alone, the intelligence fcattcred over all the reft, but by 
 his capability of rifing upward to the fource of all con- 
 formities, namely, to GOD him-felf. The only charafter, 
 
6 A VINDICATION of 
 
 which efTentially diflinguiflies Man from the animal, is 
 this, He is a religious Being. 
 
 No one animal partakes with him of this fublime fac- 
 ulty. It may be confidered as the principle of human in- 
 telligence. By it Man is exalted above the inftinft of 
 the bealls, fo as to be enabled to form a conception of the 
 general plans of Nature ; and which led him to fuppofe 
 an order of things, from having caught a glimpfe of an 
 Author. By it he was emboldened to employ fire as the 
 firft of agents, to crofs the Ocean, to give a new face to 
 the Earth by agriculture, to fubjeft all animals to his em- 
 pire, to eftablifli Society on the bafis of a religion, and to 
 attempt to raife himfelf up to Deity by his virtues. It 
 was not Nature, as is commonly believed, which firft 
 pointed out GOD to Man, but it is a fenfe of the Deity, 
 in Man, which has indicated to him the order of Nature. 
 The Savages are religious, long before they are Natur- 
 alills. 
 
 Accordingly, by the fentiment of this univerfal con- 
 formity, Man is ftruck with all pofTibJe conformities, 
 though they may be foreign to him. He takes an inter- 
 ^ft in the hifloiy of an infeft ; and if his attention is not 
 engaged in behalf of all the infefts which furround him, 
 it is becaufe he perceives not their relations, unlefs there 
 be fonie Rcaianur at hand to difplay them to him ; or elfe, 
 the conflant hiibit of feeing them renders them infipid ; 
 perhaps it may be fome odious or contemptible prejudice ; 
 for he is affefted fliil more by moral than by phyfical 
 ideas, and by his paffions more than by his reafon. 
 
 We fhall fartlicr remark, that all the fentiments of con- 
 formity fpring up in the heart of Man, at the fight 
 of fome ufcful end, which, frequently, has no manner of 
 relation to his own pcrfonal wants : It follows, that Man 
 is naturally good, for this very reafon, that he is rational ; 
 feeino- the afpeft alone of a conformity, though entirely 
 foreio-n to him, communicates a fenfe of pleafure. It is 
 from this natural fcntlmcnt of ^^(jodnefs, that the fight of 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 7 
 
 a well proportioned animal conveys to us agreeable fenfa- 
 tions, which increafe in proportion as the creature un- 
 folds its inftinft. We love to fee a turtle, even in an avi- 
 ary ; but that bird pleafes Hill more, when at large in the 
 foreft, uttering the murmurs of love from the top of an 
 elm, or when we perceive her bufily conftruding in it a 
 neft for her young, with all the folicitude of maternal ten- 
 dernefs. 
 
 Once more, it is from a refult of this natural goodnefs 
 that want of conformity communicates a painful fenfation, 
 which is always excited at fight of any thing incongruous. 
 Thus we are (hocked on looking at a monfter. It gives 
 us pain to fee an animal wanting a foot or an eye. This 
 feeling is independent of every idea of pain relatively to 
 ourfelves, let Philofophers fay what they will ; for we 
 fuffer in fuch a cafe, though we are aflured that the ani- 
 mal came into the world in that defeftive ftate. We are 
 pained at the fight of incongruity, even in infenfible ob- 
 jefts. Withered plants, mutilated trees, an ill alTorted 
 edifice, hurt our feelings. Thefe f^rlfations are pervert- 
 ed, or fupprefled, in Man, only by prejudice, or by edu- 
 cation. 
 
 OF ORDER. 
 
 A ferles of conformities, which liave a common centre, 
 conftitutes order. There are conformities in the members 
 of an animal ; but order exifts only in the body. Conform- 
 ity refers to the detail, and order to the combination. Or- 
 der extends our pleafure, by collefting a great number of 
 conformities, and it fixes them, by giving them a deter- 
 mmation toward one centre. It difcovers to us at once, 
 in a fingle objeft, a fucceflion of particular conformities, 
 and the leading conformity to which they all refer. Thus, 
 •rder gives us pleafure, as beings endowed with a reafon 
 
* A VINDICATION OF 
 
 which embraces all Nature ; and it pleafes us ftill motH 
 perhaps, as being weak and limited creatures, capable of 
 taking in only a fingle point at once. 
 
 It gives us pleafure, for example, to view the relations 
 between the probofcis of a bee, and the neftareous juices 
 of flowers ; between thofe of her thighs, hollowed into 
 fpoons, and bri filed with hairs, to the fine powder of the 
 ilamina which (he there collefts ; between thofe of her 
 four wings, to the booty with which (he is loaded, (a re- 
 fource by Nature denied to flies which travel without a 
 burthen, and which, for this reafon, are furnifhed with two 
 only*;) finally, the ufe of a long fling, which flie has re- 
 ceived for the defence of her property, and all the confor- 
 mities of the organs ol this fmall infeft, which are more 
 ingenious, and in much greater number, than thofe of the 
 largefl: animals. 
 
 But the interefl; grows upon us, when we fee her cov- 
 ered all over with a yellow powder, her thighs pendent, 
 and half opprefled witli her burden, direfting her flight 
 through the air, acrofs plains, rivers and fliady groves^ 
 under points of the wind, with which fhe is well acquaint- 
 ed, and alighting, with a humming found, on the cavern- 
 ous trunk of fome aged oak. Here again we perceive a 
 fucceffive order, on feeing a great multitude of little indi- 
 viduals, fimilar to her, coming out, and going in, accord- 
 ing as the bufinefs of the hive may require. That one, 
 whofe particular conformities We have been admiring, is 
 only a fingle member of a numerous Republic ; and this 
 Republic itfelf is but a fmall Colony, of the immenfe Na- 
 tion of bees, fpread over the whole Earth, from the Line 
 up to the fliorcs of the frozen Ocean. 
 
 This Nation, again, is fiibdivided into different fpe- 
 cies, conformably to the various fpecies of flowers ; for 
 
 * The ichneumon, or aqtiatic dragon fly, is, in like manner, provided 
 with four wings, becaufc fhe too was intended to fly under a laad. I 
 have f»cn kcr catch butterflies in the >ir. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 9 
 
 there are fome which, being deftined to live on flowers 
 which have no depth, fuch as the radiated, are armed with 
 five hooks, to prevent their Aiding on the petals. Others, 
 on the contrary, fuch as the bees of America, have no 
 llingSj becaufe they conftruft their hives in the trunks of 
 prickly trees, which are very common in that part of the 
 world : Such trees, accordingly, are their prote-61:ion. 
 There are many other conformities, artiong the other fpe- 
 cies of bees, with which, we are totally unacquainted. 
 Neverthelefs, this vaft Nation, fo varied in its colonies, 
 and whofe pofTeffions are fo extenfive, is but one little 
 family of the clafs of flies, of which we know, in our owr> 
 Climate alone, near fix thoufand fpecies, moft of them as 
 diftin6l from each other, as to forms artd inftin6fs, as bees 
 themfelves are from other flies. 
 
 If we were to compare the relations of this volatile 
 clafs, fo numerous in itfelf, with all the parts of the veg- 
 etable and animal kingdoms, we fhould find an innumera- 
 ble multitude of different orders of conformity ; and were 
 we to add to them, thofe which are prefented to us in the 
 legions of butterflies, fcarabs, locufts, and other infe6fs 
 wliich likewife fly, we fhould multiply them to infinity. 
 All this, flill, would be but a fmall matter, compared to 
 the various induflry of the other infe61:s which crawl, 
 which leap, which fwim, w^hich climb, which walk, which 
 are motionlefs ; the number of thefe is incomparably 
 greater than that of the firfl : xA.nd the hiflory of thefe 
 lafl, added to that of the others, would, after all, be the 
 hiflory of only one puny race of this great Republic of 
 the World, repleniflied as it is with innumerable fhoals 
 of fifties, and endlefs legions of quadrupeds, amphibious 
 animals, and birds. 
 
 All their clalfes, with their divifions, and fubdivifions, 
 the minutefl individual of which prefents a very exten- 
 five fphere of conformities, are themfelves only: particu- 
 lar conformities : onlv rays and points in the general 
 
 V©L, II. B . 
 
40 A VINDICATION of 
 
 fphere, of which Man alone occupies the centre, and ap=* 
 prehends the immenfity. 
 
 From a fenfe of the general order, two other fentiments 
 obvioLifly refult ; the one which throws us imperceptibly 
 into the bofom of the Deity, and the other, which recals 
 us to the perception of our wants ; the one which exhib- 
 its to us, as the original caufe, a Being infinitely intelli* 
 gent, without us, and the other, as the ultimate end, a 
 very limited being, in our own perfon. Thefe two fenti- 
 ments characterize the two powers of which Man is con- 
 ftituted, the fpiritual and the corporeal. This is not the 
 place to unfold thefe : It is fufficient for my purpofe to 
 remark, that thefe two natural fentiments are the general 
 fources of the pleafure which we derive from the order of 
 Nature. Animals are affefted only by the fecond, and 
 that in a very limited degree. 
 
 A bee has a fentiment of the order of her hive ; but jfhe 
 knows nothing beyond that. She is totally ignorant of 
 the order which regulates the ants in their neft, though 
 fhe may have frequently feen them profecuting their la- 
 bours. To no purpofe would fhe refort, in the event of 
 Iier hive's being deftroyed, to feek retuge, as a republican, 
 in the midft of their Republic. To no purpofe, in the 
 hour of diftrefs, would fhe attempt to avail herfelf of the 
 qualities which fhe has in common with them, and which 
 make communities to flourifh, temperance, a difpofition 
 to induflry, the love of Country, and, above all, that of 
 equality, united to fuperiour talents : She would meet, 
 from them, with no hofpitality, no confideration, no com- 
 pafTion. Nay, fhe would not find an afylum even among 
 other bees of a different fpecies : For every fpecies has 
 its proper fphere afTigned to it, and this by an effeSi of 
 the wifdom of Nature ; for if it were otherwife, the beft 
 organized fpecies, or the flrongefl, would expel the oth- 
 ers from their domains. Hence it follows, that the focie- 
 ty of animals could not fubfifl independent of the pafv 
 fi«ns, nor human fociety independent of virtue, Man a- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. n 
 
 k)ne, of all animals, pofTefTes the fentiment of univerfal 
 order, which is that of the Deity himfelf ; and by car- 
 rying over the whole Earth, the virtues which are the 
 fruits of it, whatever may be the differences which preju- 
 dice interpofes between man and man, it is fure of allur- 
 ing all hearts to itfelf. It was by this fentiment of uni- 
 verfal order which governed your life, that you have be- 
 come the men of all Nations, and that you intereft us ftill, 
 even when you are no longer with us, Arijlides^ ^ocratcs^ 
 Marcus Aurelius, divine Fenelon, and you, likdwife, un- 
 fortunate JoJm J allies / 
 
 HARMONY. 
 
 Nature oppofes beings to each other, in order to pro- 
 duce between them agreeable conformities. This Law 
 has been acknowledged from the higheft Antiquity. It 
 is to be found in many paflages of the Holy Scriptures. 
 I produce one from the Book of Ecclefiafticus :* Omnia 
 duplicia^ unum contra unum^ & non fecit quidquam deejfe. 
 *' All things are double, one againlt another ; and He 
 ** hath made nothing unperfeft ; One thing eftablifheth 
 *' the good of another." 
 
 I confider this great truth as the key of all Philofophy. 
 It has likewife been fruitful in difcovery, as well as that 
 other ; Notiiing has been created in vain. It has been the 
 fource of tafte in the «rts and in eloquence. Out of con- 
 traries arife the plcafures of vifion, of hearing, of touch- 
 ing, of tailing, and all the attraftions of beauty, of what- 
 ever kind it may b^e. But from contraries, likewife, a- 
 rife uglinefs, difcord, and all the fenfations which fill us 
 V/ith difguft. In this there is fomething very wonderful 
 
 * Eco^efiafticuS; chap, xlii. vcr. 24, 25, 
 
1'^ A VINDICATION OF 
 
 tliat Nature fhould employ the fame caufes to produce ef- 
 ie6i:s fo different. When (he oppofes contraries to each 
 other, painful affe£lions are excited in us ; but when fhe 
 blends them, we are agreeably affefted. From the oppo- 
 fition ot contraries fprings difcord, and from their union 
 refuks harmony. 
 
 Let us endeavour to find in Nature fome proofs of this 
 great Law. Cold is the oppofite of heat, light of dark- 
 nefs, eariJi of water ; and the harmony of thefe cpntraxy 
 elements produces effects the moft delightiul : But if cold 
 fucceeds rapidly to heat, or heat to cold, moft vegetables 
 and animals, expofed to fuch fudden revolutions, are in 
 danger of perifhing. The light of the Sun is agreeable ; 
 but if a black cloud fuddenly intercepts, or bears upon, 
 the luftre of his rays, or if a gleaming flame, fuch as that 
 of lightning, burfts from the bofom of a very dark night, 
 the eye, in both thefe cafes, undergoes a painful fenfatioij^ 
 The horror ot" a thunder ftorm is greatly increafed, if the 
 tremendous explofions are interrupted by intervals of pro- 
 found filence ; and it is heightened inexpreffibly, if the 
 oppofitions, of thofe celefliat fires and obfcurities, of that 
 tumult and tranquility, make therafelves felt in the gloom 
 and filence of night. 
 
 Nature oppofes, in like manner, at fea, the white foam 
 of the billows to the bhck colour of the rocks, in order 
 to announce to the mariners from afar the danger ot (hal- 
 lows. She frequently prefcnts to them forms analagous 
 to deftruclion, fuch as thofe of ferocious animals, of edi- 
 fices in ruins, or of ihc keels of (liips turned upward. She 
 even cxtraBs from thefe awful lorms hollow noifes re- 
 fcmbling groans, and broken off by long intervals of fi- 
 lence. The Ancients believed that they law in the rock 
 of Scylla, a female oi a hideous form, whufe girdle was 
 furroundcd by a pack of dogs, whicli barked, inccffantly. 
 Mariners have given to the rocks oi the Bahama channel, 
 fo noted for fhipwrccks, tlic nan^eof the Maityrs^ becaufc 
 they prefent, through the fpray of the billows which break 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 15 
 
 011 them, the horrid fpeftacle of men impaled, and expof- 
 ed on wheels. You would even imagine, that you heard 
 fighs and fobbings iffuing from thefe difn^l (hallows. 
 
 Nature employs, in like manner, thofe clafliiiig oppo, 
 fitions, and thofe omnious figns, to exprefs the charafters 
 of favage and dangerous animals of all kinds. The lion 
 Arolling, by night, through the folitudes of Africa, an- 
 nounces his approach from a great dijdance, by roarings, 
 'which have a ftrikingr refemblance to the rolling of thun- 
 der. The vivid and inftantaneous flaflies of fire which 
 dart from his eyes in the dark, exhibit, befides, the ap-* 
 pearance of that formidable meteor, lightning. During 
 the Winter feafon, the bowlings of the wolves in the for- 
 efts of the North refemble the whlftling of the winds as 
 they agitate the trees ; the cries of birds of prey are fhrill, 
 piercing, and now and then interrupted by hollow notes. 
 Nay, there are fome which emit the founds of a human 
 being in pain. Such is the lorn, a fpecies of feafowl, 
 which feeds on the fhelvy coalt of Lapland,"^ on the dead 
 bodies of animals which are there put afhore : He cries 
 like a man a drowning. 
 
 Noxious infefts exhibit the fame oppofitions, and the 
 fame fignals of deftruftion. The gnat, thirfling after hu- 
 man blood, announces himfelf to the eye, by the v/hite 
 points with which his brown coloured body is fludded, 
 and to the ear, by his fhrill notes, which diflurb the tran- 
 quillity of the grove. The carnivorous wafp is fpeckled, 
 Jike the tiger, with black ftripcs on a yellow ground. You 
 frequently find in our gardens, about the roots of trees 
 which are decaying, a fpecicvS of bug, of a longifii form, 
 which bears on its red body marbled with black, the mafk 
 of a death's head. Finally, the infefts which attack our 
 perfons more immediately, however fmall they mav be, 
 diflinguifh themfelves by glaring oppofitions of colour to 
 ^he field on which they fettle. 
 
 < See John. Schrjcr's Hiaorv of I.aphna. 
 
t4 A VINDICATION Of 
 
 But when tu-o contraries come to be blended, of what- 
 ever kind, the combination produces pleafure, beauty and 
 harmony. I call the inftant, and the point, of their union, 
 Harmonic expreffioii. This is the only principle which L 
 have been able to perceive in Nature ; for the elements 
 themfelves, as we have feen, are not fimple : They always 
 prefent accords formed of two contraries to analyfes mul- 
 tiplied without end. Thus, to refume fome of the inftan- 
 ces already adduced, the gentleft temperatures, and the 
 moft favourable, in general, to every fpecies of vegetation, 
 are thofe of the feafons in which cold is blended with 
 heat, as in the Spring and Autumn. They are then pro- 
 duftive of two faps in trees, which the ftrongeft heats of 
 Summer do not efFeft. The moft agreeable produ61ion 
 of light and darknefs are perceptible at thofe feafons when 
 they melt into each other, and form what Painters call the 
 clear oh/cure and half lights. For this reafon it is, that 
 the moft interefting hours of the day are thofe of morning 
 and evening : Thofe hours, when, in the beautiful imag- 
 ery of La Fontaine^ in his charming fable of Pyramus 
 and Thijbe, the fhade and the light ftrive for the maftery 
 in the azure fields. The moft lovely profpe6ls are thofe 
 in which land and water are loft in each other ; this fug- 
 gefted that obfervation of honeft Plutarch ; namely, that 
 the pleafanteft land journies are thofe which we make a- 
 long the fhore of the fea ; and the moft delightful voyages 
 thofe which are a coafting along the land. You will ob- 
 fcrve thefe fame harmonies refult from favours and founds 
 the moft oppofite, in the pleafures of the palate, and o-f 
 the ear. 
 
 We fhall proceed to examine the uniformity of this 
 Law, in the vcrv principles by v/hich Nature gives us the 
 rirft fenfations of her works, which arc colours, forms and 
 ^notions. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. is 
 
 Of Colours* 
 
 I ihall be carefully on my guard not to give a defini* 
 lion of colours, and ftill more, not to attempt an expiana^- 
 tion of their origin. Colours are, as Naturalifls tell us, 
 refraftions of the light on bodies, as is demonftated by the 
 prifm, which, by breaking a ray of the Sun, decompounds 
 it into feven coloured rays, which difplay themfelves in 
 the following order ; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, in- 
 digo and violet. Thefe are, as they will have it, the feven 
 primitive colours. But, as has been already obferved. 
 We do not know what is primitive in Nature. I might 
 objeft to them, that if the colours of objeHs are produced 
 only from the refraftion of the light of the Sun, they 
 ought to difappear at the light of a taper, for the light of 
 a taper is not decompounded by the prifm : But I fliall 
 confine myfelf to a few reflexions refpefting the number, 
 and the order of thofe feven pretended primitive colours. 
 
 Firft, it i^ evident that four of thefe are compounded ; 
 for orange is made up of yellow and red ; green, of yeU 
 low and blue ; violet, of blue and red ; and indigo is noth- 
 ing more than a tint of blue furcharged which black. This 
 reduces the folar colours to three primordial ; namely, 
 yellow, red and blue ; to which if we add white, which is 
 the colour of light, and black, which is the privation of 
 it, we (hall have five fimple colours with which may be 
 compounded all imaginable fhades of colour. 
 
 I muft here obferve, that our philofophicai machinery 
 deceives us with its afFeftation of fuperior ietelligence, 
 not only becaufe it afcribes falfe elements to Nature, as 
 when the prifm difplays compound for primitive colours, 
 but by Gripping her of fuch as are true ; for how many 
 white and black bodies mud be reckoned colourlefs, con* 
 
16 A VlNDICATlOxM OF 
 
 fidering that this fame prifm does not exhibit their tints 
 in the decompofition of the foljr ray ! 
 
 This inflrumcnt leads us farther into an error refpeft- 
 ing the natural order of thefe very colours, by making 
 the red ray the firfl irt the feries, and the violet ray the 
 laft. The order of colours in the prifm, therefore, is on- 
 ly a triangular decompofition of a ray of cylindrical light, 
 the two extremes of which, red and violet, participate 
 the one of the other, without terminating it ; fo that the 
 principle of colours, which is the white ray and its pro- 
 grelTive decompofition, is no longer manifefted in it. I 
 am very much difpofed to believe, that it is even poflible 
 to cut a chryftal with fuch a number of angles, as would 
 give to the refra6lions of the folar ray an order entirely 
 different, and would multiply the pretended primitive 
 colours far beyond the number of feven. The authority 
 of fuch a polyedron would become altogether as refpefta- 
 ble as that of the prifm, if the Algebraills were to apply 
 to it a few calculations, fomewhat obfcure, with a feafon- 
 ing of the ratiocination of the corpufcular philofophy, as 
 they have done with regard to the effefts of the triangular 
 inflrument. 
 
 We fhall employ a method, not quite fo learned, to 
 convey an idea of the generation of colours, and of thtf 
 decompohtion of the folar ray. In (lead of examining 
 them in a prifm of glafs, we fhall confider them in the 
 Heavens, and there we ihall behold the five primordial 
 colours untold thcmielves in the order which we have in- 
 dicated. 
 
 In a fine fummer's night, when the fky is fercne, and 
 loaded only with fome light vapours, fufficient to flop^ 
 and to refraft, the rays of the Sun, as they traverfe the 
 extremities of our Atmofphere, walk out into an open 
 plain, where the firfl fires oH Aurora may be perceptible. 
 You will firft obferve the Horizon whiten at the fpot 
 where Ihe is to make her appearance; and this kind of 
 radiance, from its colour, has procured for it. in the 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 17 
 
 ^French language, the name of aube (the dawn) from the 
 Latin wcird alba, which fignifies white. This whitenefs 
 infenfibly afccnds in the Heavens, and aflumes a tint of 
 yellow, fome degrees above the Horizon ; the yellow, as 
 it rifes fome degrees higher, paffes into orange ; and this 
 fhade of orange rifes upward into the lively vermilion, 
 which extends as far as the Zenith. From that point you 
 will perceive in the Heavens, behind you, the violet fuc- 
 ceeding the vermillion, then the azure, after it the deep 
 blue or indigo colour, and laft of all, the black quite to 
 the wellward. 
 
 Though this difplay of colours prefents an infinite mul- 
 titude of intermediate fhades, which fucceed each other 
 with confiderable rapidity, neverthelefs, there is a mo- 
 ment, and, if my recolleftion of it be accurate, it is the 
 moment when the Sun is juft going to exhibit his diflc, 
 that the dazzling white is vifible in the Horizon, the 
 pure yellow, at an elevation of fortyfive degrees ; the fire 
 colour, in the Zenith ; the pure blue, fortyfive degrees 
 under it, toward the Weft; and, in the very Weft, the 
 dark veil of night ftill lingering on the Horizon. At 
 leaft, 1 think, I have remarked this progreflion between 
 the Tropics, where there is fcarcely any horizontal refrac- 
 tion to make the light prematurely incroach on the dark- 
 nefs, as in our Climates. 
 
 jf, J. Roujfeau obferved to me one day, that though the 
 field of thofe celeftial colours be blue, the yellow tints 
 which melt away into it, do not produce by that mixture 
 the colour of green, as is tlie cafe in our material colours, 
 when thefe two fhades are blended. But, I replied, that I 
 had frequently perceived green in the Heavens, not only 
 between the Tropics, but over the Horizon of Paris. 
 That colour, in truth, is hardly ever feen with us, but in 
 fome fine Summer evenings. I have likewife feen, in 
 the clouds of the Tropics, all the colours perceptible on 
 the earth, particularly at fea, and in ftormy weather. 
 You may then fee fome of them copper coloured, fome 
 VOL. II. e 
 
i8 A VINDICATION of 
 
 of the colour of the fmoke of a tobacco pipe, fome hrown, 
 reddifh, black, grey, chefnut, livid, the colour of a heated 
 oven's mouth. As to thofe which appear there in fine 
 weather, fome are fo lively and brilliant, that no palace 
 can exhibit any thing to vie with them, were it enriched 
 with all the gems of the Great Mogul. 
 
 Sometimes the trade winds, from the Northeaft, or 
 Southeaft, which conftantly blow there, card the clouds 
 through each other, like fo many tufts of filk ; then fweep 
 them away to the Well, crofling and recrofling them over 
 one another, like the ofiers interwoven in a tranfparent 
 bafket. They throw over the fides of this chequered 
 work, the clouds which are not employed in the contex- 
 ture, and which are in no fmall number, roll them up int© 
 enormous mafles, as w^hite as fnow, draw them out along 
 their extremities in form of a crupper, and pile them upon 
 each other, like the Cordeliers, of Peru, moulding them 
 into the ftiape of mountains, of caverns, and of rocks ; 
 afterwards, as evening approaches, they grow fomewhat 
 calm, as if afraid of deranging their own workmanfliip. 
 When the Sun comes to fet behind this magnificent net- 
 ting, you fee a multitude of luminous rays tranfmitted 
 through each particular interftice, which produce fuch an 
 effeft, that the two fides of the lozenge illuminated by 
 them, have the appearance of being begirt with a fillet of 
 gold, and the other two, which are in the fliade, feem 
 tinged with a fuperb ruddy orange. Four or five diver- 
 gent ftreams of light, emanated from the fetting Sun up 
 to the Zenith, clothe with fringes of gold, the undeterm- 
 inate fummits of this celcftial barrier, and proceed to ftrike 
 with the reflexes of their fires the pyramids of the collat- 
 eral aerial mountains, which then appear to confift of fil- 
 ver and vermillion. At this moment of the evening are 
 perceptible, amidlt their redoubled ridges, a multitude of 
 valleys extending into infinity, and diftinguifhing them- 
 felves at their opening by fome {hade of flefh, or of rofe 
 colour. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ,9 
 
 Thofe celeftial valleys prefent, in their different contours, 
 inimitable tints of white, melting away into white, or 
 (hades lengthening themfelves out, without mixing over 
 other fhades. You fee, here and there, iffuing from the 
 cavernous fides of thofe mountains, tides of light precip- 
 itating themfelves in ingots of gold and fih^er, over rocks 
 of coral. Here it is a gloomy rock, pierced through and 
 through, difclofing, beyond the aperture,, the pure azure 
 of the firmament ; there it is an extenfive ftrand, covered 
 with fands of gold, ftretching over the rich ground of 
 Heaven ; poppy coloured, fcarlet, and green as the em- 
 erald. 
 
 The reverberation of thofe weftern colours diffufes itfelf 
 over the Sea, wbofe azure billows it glazes with faffron 
 and purple. The mariners, leaning over the gunwale of 
 the fhip, admire in filence thofe aerial landfcapes. Some- 
 times this fublime fpeftacle prefents itfelf to them at the 
 hour of prayer, and feems to invite them to lift up their 
 hearts with their voices to the Heavens. It changes its 
 appearance every inftant : What was juft now luminous 
 becomes in a moment coloured, fimply ; and what is now- 
 coloured will, by and by, be in the fliade. The forms 
 are as variable as the fhades ; they are, by turns, iflands, 
 hamlets, hills clothed with the palm tree ; vail bridges 
 ftretching over rivers, fields of gold, of amethyfls, of 
 rubies, or rather, nothing of all this ; they are celeftial 
 colours and forms which no pencil can pretend to im- 
 itate, and which no language can defcribe. 
 
 It is very remarkable, that all travellers who have, at 
 various feafons, afcended to the fummits of the higheft 
 mountains on the Globe, between the Tropics, and be- 
 yond them, in the heart of the Continent, or in Iflands, 
 never could perceive, in the clouds below them, any thing 
 but a gray and lead coloured furface, without any varia- 
 tion whatever as to colour, being always fimilar to that of 
 * lake. The Sun, notwithftanding, illuminated thofe 
 clQuds witji his whole light ; and his rays might there 
 
20 A VINDICATION or 
 
 combine, without obflruftion, all the laws of refratlioR 
 to which our fyftems of Phyfics have fubjefted them. 
 From this obfervation it follows, and I fhall repeat it in 
 another place, becaufe of its importance, that there is not 
 a fingle lliade of colour employed in vain, through the 
 whole extent of the Univerfe ; that thofe celeftial decora- 
 tions were made for the level of the Earth, and that their 
 magnificent point of view is taken from the habitation of 
 Man. 
 
 Thefe admirable concerts of lights and forms, which 
 manifeft themfelves only in the lower region of the clouds, 
 the leaft illuminated by the Sun, are produced by laws, 
 "with which I am totally unacquainted. But let their va- 
 riety be what it may, the whole are reducible to five col- 
 ours ; yellow appears to be a generation from white ; red 
 a deeper fhade of yellow ; blue, a tint of red greatly 
 Itrengthened ; and black, the extreme tint of blue. It is 
 impofiible to entertain a doubt refpefting this progrelTion, 
 if you obferve, in the morning, as I have mentioned, the 
 expanfion of light in the Heavens. You there fee thofe 
 five colours, with their intermediate fhades, generating 
 each other nearly in this order : White, fulphur yellow, 
 lemon yellow, yolk of egg yellow, orange, Aurora colour, 
 poppy red, full red, carmine red, purple, violet, azure, in- 
 digo, and black. Each of thofe colours feems to be 
 only a ftrong tint of that which precedes it, and a faint 
 tint of that which follows ; thus the whole together ap- 
 pear to be only modulations of a progieflion, of which 
 white is the firft term, and black the laft. 
 
 In this order, whereof the two extremes, white and 
 black, that is, light and darknefs, produce, in harmoniz- 
 ing, fo many dilferent colours, you will remark, that the 
 red colour holds the middle place, and that it is the moft 
 beautiful of the whole, in the judgment of all Nations. 
 The Ruffians, when they would defcribe a beautiful girl^ 
 fay fhe is red. They call her crajlna devitfa : Red and 
 Ipcautiiul being with them fynonimous terms. In Mexi-. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 21 
 
 GO and Peru, red was held in very high eftimation. The 
 moft magnificent prefent which the Emperor Monte, 
 zeuma could devife for Cortez, was a necklace of lobfters, 
 which naturally had that rich colour.* The only demand 
 made upon the Spaniards by the King of Sumatra, on 
 their firft landing in his country, and prefenting him with 
 many famples of the commerce and induftry of Europe, 
 was fome corals, and fcarlet coloured fluffs ;+ and he 
 promifed to give them, in return, all the fpiceries, and oth- 
 er merchandife, of India, for which they might have oc- 
 ^afion. 
 
 There is no fuch thing as carrying on trade, to any ad- 
 vantage, with the Negroes, the Tartars, the Am.ericans, 
 and the Eaft Indians, but through the medium of red cloths. 
 The teftimonies of travellers are unanimous refpefling 
 the preference univerfally given to this colour. Of this 
 I could produce proofs innumerable, were I not afraid of 
 being tedious. I have indicated the univerfality of this 
 tafte, merely in the view of demonftrating the falfhood of 
 the philofophic axiom which afferts, that taftes are arbi- 
 trary, or which amounts to the fame thing, that th ere are 
 in Nature no laws for beauty, and t"hat our taftes are the 
 effefts of prejudice. The direft contrary of this is the 
 truth; it is prejudice that corrupts our natural taftes, 
 which would otherwife be the fame over the whole Earth. 
 From a prejudice of this kind, the Turks prefer green to 
 every other colour, becaufe, according to the tradition of 
 their Theologians, this was the favourite colour of Ma- 
 homet^ and his defcendents alone, of all the Turks, have 
 ihe privilege of wearing the green turban. 
 
 But from a fimilar, though oppofite prejudice, the 
 Perfians, their neighbours, defpife green, becaufe they re- 
 je6l the traditions of thofe Turkifti Theologians, and, ac- 
 cordingly, do not acknowledge that confanguinity of their 
 jPrpphet, being followers of AH, 
 
 * See Herrera. 
 f See General Hiijory of Voyages by the Abbe ^ra'ojh. 
 
22 A VINDICATION or 
 
 From another chimera, yellow appears to the Chinefe 
 the moft diftinguiflied of all colours, becaufe it is that of 
 their emblematical dragon. Yellow is, in China, the im- 
 perial colour, as green is in Turkey. The Chinefe, nev^- 
 crthclefs, if we may depend on the authority of I/brants 
 Ides^ reprefent their Gods and Heroes, on the ftage, with 
 their faces flained a blood colour.* All thefe Nations, 
 the political colour excepted, confider red as the moft 
 beautiful, which is fufficient to eftablifh with refpe6l to 
 it, an unanimity of preference. 
 
 But, without dwelling longer on the variable teftimony 
 of Man, we have only to appeal to that of Nature. It is 
 with red that Nature heightens the moft brilliant parts of 
 the moft beautiful flowers. She has given a complete 
 clothing of it to the rofe, the Queen of the Garden : She 
 has beftowed this tint on the blood, which is the princi- 
 ple of life in animals ; She inverts moft of the feathered 
 race, in India, with a plumage of this colour, efpecially 
 in the feafon of love. There are very few birds, on 
 which fhe does not then beftow fome fhades, at leaft, of 
 this rich hue. Some have their heads covered with it, 
 fuch as thofe which are called Cardinals ; others have a 
 breaft plate of it, a necklace, a capuchin, a Ihoulder knot. 
 There are fome which preferve entirely the gray, or 
 brown ground of their plumage, but glazed over with red, 
 as if they had been rolled in carmine. Others are be- 
 fprinkled with red, as if you had blown a fcarlet powder 
 over them. Together with this fome have a mixture of 
 fmall white points, which produces a charming effeft. 
 A little bird of India, called Bengaliy is painted in this 
 manner. 
 
 But nothing can be more lovely than a turtledove of 
 Africa, wlio bears on her pearl gray plumage, precifely 
 over the place of the heart, a bloody fpot confifting of 
 dificrent kinds of red blended, perfeftly rcfembling a 
 
 • Journey from Mofcow, to Cljina, page 141. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^25 
 
 Vound : It feems as if this bird, dedicated to Love, was def- 
 tined to wear her mafter's livery, and had ferved as a mark 
 to his arrows. What is ftill more wonderful, thefe rich 
 coraline tints difappear in moft of thofe birds as foon as 
 the feafon of love is over, as if they were robes of cere- 
 mony, lent them by the benevolence of Nature, only dur- 
 ing the celebration of their nuptials. 
 
 The red colour, fituated in the midft of the five primor- 
 dial colours, is the harmonic expreflion of them, by way 
 of excellence ; and the refult, as has been faid, of the- 
 union of two contraries, light and darknefs. There are, 
 befides, tints extremely agreeable, compounded of the op- 
 pofitions of extremes. For example, of the fecond and 
 fourth colour, that is, of yellow and blue, is formed green, 
 which conftitutes a very beautiful harmony, and which 
 ought, perhaps, to pofTefs the fecond rank in beauty, 
 among colours, as it pofFelTes the fecond in their genera- 
 tion. Nay, green appears, in the eyes of many perfons, 
 if not the moft beautiful tint, at leaft the moft lovely, be- 
 caufe it is iefs dazzling than red, and more congenial to 
 the eye.* 
 
 •* It is harmony which renders every thing perceptible, juft as monotony 
 makes every thing to difappear. Nofonly are colours the harmonic confo- 
 nances of light ; But there is no one coloured body whofe tint Nature does 
 not heighten by the contrail of the two extreme generative colours, which 
 «re white and black. Every body detaches itfelf by means of light and 
 fhade, the firft of which is akin to the white, and the fecond to the black. 
 Every body, accordingly, bears upon it a complete harmony. 
 
 This is not the effeft of chance. Were we enlightened, for example, by 
 a luminous air, we fhould not perceive the form of bodies ; far their out- 
 lines, their profiles, and their cavities, would be overfpread with an uni- 
 form light, which would caufe their prominent and retreating parts t© dif- 
 appear. With a providence, therefore, completely adapted to the weak- 
 uefs of our vifion, the Author of Nature has made the light to iffue from 
 a fingle point of Heaven : And with an intelligence that equally challenge* 
 ©ur admiration, He has given a motion of progreflion to the Sun, who ia 
 the fource of that light, in order to form, with the fiiades, harmonies vary- 
 ing every inftant. He has likewife modified that light, on terreftrial objefts, 
 » fach a raafluer, as t»illuniinate both immediately and mediately, by re* 
 
64 A VINDICATlOxM OF 
 
 I fliall infift no longer on the other harmonic fiiadef 
 which may be deduced, in conformity to the laws of their 
 generation, from colours the mofl oppofite ; and of which 
 might be formed accor<is and concerts, fuch as Father 
 Cafiel produced from his celebrated Harpfichord. 1 muft, 
 however, remark, that colours may have a powerful in- 
 fluence on the paflions ; and that they, as well as their 
 harmonies, may be referred to the moral afFeclions. For 
 example, making red the point of departure, which is the 
 harmonic colour fupereminently, and proceeding toward 
 white in an afcending progreflion, the nearer you ap- 
 proach to this firft term, the more lively and gay are the 
 colours. You will have in fucceffion the poppy, the or- 
 ange, the yellow, the lemon, the fulphur, the white. 
 On the contrary, the farther you proceed from red to- 
 ward black, the fadder and more lugubrious are the col- 
 ours ; for this is the progreflion ; purple, violet, blue, 
 indigo and black. 
 
 In the harmonies which may be formed, on both fides, 
 by the union of oppofite colours, the more that the tints 
 of the afcending progreflion predominate, the more lively 
 
 fraRion and by refleftlon, and to extend its tints, and its harmonies, with 
 thofe of fhade, in a way that no words can exprefs. 
 
 y. y. Roufeau one day made this obfervation : *' Painters can give the 
 ** appearance of a body in relief, to a fmooth furface ; I fhould be very 
 *' glad to fee them give the appearance of a fmooth furface to a raifed 
 " body." I made no reply at the moment ; but having fmce reflefted oil 
 the folution of this problem in optics, I by no means confider the thing as 
 impoffible. The whole that is necefTary, according to my idea, is to dc- 
 ftroy one of the harmonic extremes which render bodies prominent. For 
 inftance, if the objefl aimed at were to flatten a bafs relief, it would be 
 neceflary to paint the cavities white, or the prominent parts black. Ac- 
 cordingly, as they employ the harmony of the dare obfcure, to give the 
 ippearance of a folid body to a plane furface, they might employ the mo- 
 notony of one fingle tint, to make what is aftually raifed and folid to dif- 
 appear, and become to the eye a plane furface. In the firft cafe, paint- 
 ing renders that vifiblc which is not tangible ; in the fecond,. we fhould 
 have a body that might be touched, without being vifible. This laft d«- 
 •cpfioB would be fully as furprifmjas the other. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 25 
 
 Will be the harmonies produced ; and the contrary will 
 take place, in proportion as the colours of the defcending 
 harmony fliall prevail. From this harmonic effeft it is, 
 that green, being compounded of yellow and blue, is fo 
 much more gay, as the yellow has the afcendant, and fad 
 in proportion as the blue predominates. 
 
 Farther, from this harmonic influence it is, that white 
 transfufes moft gaiety into all other tints, becaufe it is 
 light itfelf. Nay, it produces, from oppofition, a moft 
 delightful efFeft in the harmonies, which I call melancho- 
 ly ; for, blended with violet, it gives the delicious hue of 
 the lilach flower ; mixed with blue, it makes azure ; and 
 with black, produces pearl gray ; but melted away into 
 red, it exhibits the rofe colour, that enchanting tint, 
 which is the flower of life. On the other hand, accord- 
 ing to the predominance of black in colours which are 
 gay, the efTeft produced is more mournful than would 
 have refulted from unmixed black. This becomes per- 
 ceptible on blending it with yellow, orange and red, 
 which are thereby rendered dull and gloomy colours. 
 Red gives life to every tint into which it is infufed, as 
 white communicates gaiety, and black fadnefs. 
 
 If you would wifh to produce efFefts entirely oppofite 
 to moft of thofe which I have been juft indicating, you 
 have only to place the extreme colours clofely by each 
 other, without mingling them. Black, oppofed to white, 
 produces the moft mournful, and the harfheft efre61:. 
 Their oppofition is a badge of mourning among moft Na- 
 tions, as it is the fignal of impending deftruaion in the 
 tempeftuous appearances of the Heavens, and in the com- 
 motions of the Ocean. The yellow too, oppofed to black, 
 is the charaaeriftic of many dangerous animals, as the 
 
 wafp, the tyger, and feveral others I do not pretend to 
 
 infinuate, that the women have not the fkill of employing 
 to advantage, in their drefs, thofe oppofite colours ; but 
 they are called in as an embellifhment only on account of 
 the contrafts which they form with the colour of their 
 
 VOL. II. D 
 
26 A VINDICATION of 
 
 complexion ; and as the red predominates there, it fol* 
 lows that the oppofite colours are advantageous to them, 
 for harmonic expreflion is never ftronger, than when found 
 between the two extremes which produce it. We ihall 
 offer a few thoughts hereafter on this part of harmony, 
 when we come to fpeak of contrafts, and of the human 
 figure. 
 
 It would be ridiculous to affeft ignorance of the ob- 
 je£lions which may be flarted againft the univerfality of 
 thefe principles. We have reprefented white as a gay, 
 and black as a fad colour. Neverthelefs, certain Negro 
 Nations reprefent the Devil as white ; The inhabitants of 
 the Peninfula of India, in token of mourning, rub their 
 forehead and temples with the powder of fandalwood, 
 the colour of which is a yellowilh white. The Navigator 
 La Barhinois, who, in his voyage round the world, has as 
 well defcribed the manners of China, as thofe of our fea^ 
 officers, and of feveral European Colonies, fays, that 
 white is the colour of mourning among the Chinefe. 
 From thefe inftances it might be concluded, that the 
 feeling of colour mufl be arbitrary, as it is not the fame 
 in all Nations. 
 
 I venture to offer the following reply to thefe objec- 
 tions. It has already been proved by evidence, that the 
 Nations of Africa and Afia, however black they may be, 
 prefer white women to thofe of every other tint. If there 
 be any Negro Nations who paint the Devil white, this 
 may be eafily accounted for, from the ftrong feeling which 
 they have of the tyranny which the whites exercife over 
 them. White, accordingly, having become with them a 
 political colour, ceafes to be a natural one. Befides, the 
 white in which they paint their Devil is not a white, 
 beautifully harmonious, like that of the human figure: 
 But a dead white, a chalk white, fuch as that with which 
 our painters illuminate the figures of phantoms and ghofts 
 in their magical and infernal fcenes. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. g; 
 
 If this dazzling colour is the expreflion of mourning 
 among the Indians and Chinefe, the reafon is, it contrails 
 harihly with the black fkin of thofe Nations. The In- 
 dians are black. The fkin of the fouthern Chinefe is 
 much fun burnt. They derive their religion and their 
 leading cuftoms from India, the cradle of the Human 
 Race, the inhabitants of which are black. Their out- 
 ward garments are of a gloomy colour : A great part of 
 their drefs confifts of black fattin ; the covering for their 
 under extremities is black boots ; the ornamental furni- 
 ture of their houfes confifts, in a great meafure, of that 
 beautiful black varnifhed ware, which we import from 
 their country. White muft, therefore, produce a harih 
 diffonance with their furniture, their drefs, and, above all, 
 with the du/ky colour of their fkin. 
 
 If thofe Nations were to wear a black habit, in mourn- 
 ing, as we do, be their colour ever fo deep, it would not 
 form a clafliing oppofition in their drefs. The exprefTion 
 of grief, accordingly, is precifely the fame with them as 
 with us. For if we, in a feafon of mourning, oppofe the 
 black colour of our clothes to the white colour of our 
 (kin, in order thence to produce a funeral diffonance, the 
 fouthern Nations oppofe, on the contrary, the white col- 
 our of their garments to the dufky colour of their fkin, in 
 order to produce the fame effeft. 
 
 This variety of tafle admirably confirms the univerfal- 
 ity of the principles which we have laid down refpefting 
 the caufes of harmony and diffonance. It farther demon- 
 ftrates, that the agreeablenefs, or difagreeablenefs of a 
 colour, refides not in one fingle fhade, but in the harmo- 
 ny, or in the clafliing contraft, of two oppofite colours. 
 
 We might find proofs of thofe laws multiplied without 
 end, in Nature, to which Man ought ever to have recourfe 
 in all his doubts. She oppofes harihly, in hot countries 
 as in cold, the colours of dangerous and delfru^live ani- 
 mals. Venomous reptiles are univerfally painted in gloomy 
 colours, Birds of prey are univerfally of an earthy hue 
 
fS A VINDICATION of 
 
 oppofed to yellow, and white fpecks on a dark ground, 
 or dark fpo^s on a light ground. Nature has given a yel- 
 low robe, ftriped with dufky brown, and fparkling eyes, 
 to the tyger lying in ambufh under the fhade of the forefts 
 of the South: And fhe has tinged with black the fnout 
 and paws, and with blood colour the throat and eyes, of 
 the white bear, and thereby renders him apparent, not- 
 withftanding the whitenefs of his fur, amidfl the fnows of 
 the North. 
 
 OJ Forms. 
 
 Let us now proceed to the generation of forms, If 1 
 am not miftaken, the principles of thefe, like thofe of col- 
 ours, are reducible to five, namely, the line, the triangle, 
 the circle, the ellipfe and the parabola. 
 
 The line generates all forms, as the ray of light does all 
 colours. It goes on progreflively, like the other, in its 
 generations, ftep by ftep, producing firft, by three frac- 
 tions, the triangle, which, of all figures, contains the fmall- 
 eft of furfaces under the greateft of circuits. The trian- 
 gle afterward, compofed itfelf of three triangles at the 
 centre, produces the fquare, which confifts of four trian- 
 gles from the central point; the pentagon, which confifts 
 of five ; the hexagon, which confifts of fix ; and fo of the 
 reft of the polygons, up to the circle, which is compofed 
 of a multitude of triangles, whofe fummits are at its cen- 
 tre, and the bafes at its circumference : And which, con- 
 trary to tlie triangle, contains the greateft of furfaces un- 
 der the fmalleft of peripheries. The form which has, 
 hitherto, always been going on progreflively, commencing 
 with the line, relatively to a centre, up to the circle, af- 
 terwards deviates from it ; and produces the ellipfe, then 
 the parabola, and finally all the other widened curves, the 
 equations of which may all be referred to this laft. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. g^ 
 
 So that under this afpeft, the indefinite line has no 
 common centre : The triangle has three points in its 
 bounding lines, which have a common centre ; the fquare 
 has four ; the pentagon five ; the hexagon fix : And the 
 circle has all the points of its circumference regulated 
 conformably to one common and only centre. The el- 
 lipfe begins to deviate from this regulation, and has two 
 centres ; and the parabola, as well as the other curves, 
 which are analogous to it, have centres innumerable con- 
 tained in their feveral axes, from which they remove far- 
 ther and farther, forming fomething like funnels. 
 
 On the fuppofition of this afcending generation of 
 forms, from the line, through the triangle, up to the cir- 
 cle ; and their defcending generation, from the circle, 
 through the ellipfe, to the parabola, 1 deduce, from thefe 
 five elementary forms, all the forms of Nature ; as, with 
 the fiv^e primordial colours 1 compofe all the polTible 
 (hades of colour. 
 
 The line prefents the flenderefl form, the circle pre- 
 fents the fulleft, and the parabola the mofl obliquely flut- 
 ed. In this progreffion it may be remarked, that the cir- 
 cle, which occupies the middle between thefe two ex- 
 tremes, is the moil beautiful of all the elementary forms, 
 as red is the moft beautiful of all the primordial colours, 
 I presume not to fay, with certain ancient Philofophers, 
 that this form mull be the moft beautiful, becaufe it is the 
 'figure of the Stars, which, however, would be no fuch 
 contemptible reafoii ; but, to enjploy only the teftimonv 
 of our fenfes, it is the moft grateful to both the eye and 
 the touch ; it is, likewife, the moft fufceptible of motion ; 
 finally, what is no mean authority in the cafe of natural 
 truths, it is confidercd as the moft conformable to the 
 tafte of all Nations, who employ it in their ornaments, 
 and in their architefllire ; and it is particularly conforma- 
 ble to the tafte of children, v.'ho give it the preference ta 
 everv other, in the ipftruments of their amwfcment, 
 
30 A VINDICATION of 
 
 It is very remarkable, that thefe five elementar\^ fonns 
 have the fame analogies to each other which the five pri- 
 mordial colours have among themfelves ; fo that if you 
 proceed to their afcending generation, from the fphere to- 
 ward the line, you will have forms angular, lively and 
 gay, which fhall terminate in the ftraight line, and of which 
 Nature compofes fo many radiations and expanfions of 
 figure, in the Heavens and on the Earth, fo agreeable to 
 behold. If, on the contrary, you defcend from the fphere 
 to the excavations of the parabola, you will be prefented 
 with a gradation of cavernous forms, which are fo fright- 
 ful in abylTes and precipices. 
 
 Farther, if you join the elementary forms to the primor- 
 dial colours, term for term, you will obferve their prin- 
 cipal charafter mutually flrengthen each other, at leaft 
 in the two extremes, and in the harmonic expreflion of 
 the centre : For the two firft terms will ^ive the white 
 ray, which is the ray of light itfelf ; the circular form, 
 united to the red colour, will produce a figure analogous 
 to the rofe, compofed of fpherical portions, with carmine 
 tints, and, from the effeft of this double harmony, deem- 
 ed, in the judgment of all Nations, the moft beautiful of 
 flowers. Finally, black, added to the vacuity of the pa- 
 rabola, increafes the gloom of retreating and cavernous 
 forms. 
 
 With thefe five elementary forms may be compofed 
 figures as agreeable as the fhades which arc produced 
 from the harmonies of the five primordial colours. So 
 that the more there Ihall enter, into thofc mixed figures, 
 of the two afcending terms of the progrelTion, the more 
 light and gay fucli figures will be ; and the more that the 
 two dcfcending tcrm.s (hall predominate, the more heavy 
 and dull will be the forms. Thus, the form will be {o 
 much tlic more elegant, as the firft term, which is the 
 flraight line, fliall have the predominance. For example, 
 the column gives us pleafure, becaufe it is a long cylin- 
 iler, which has the circle for its bafis, and two ftraighi 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^\ 
 
 lines, or a quadrilateral figure of confiderable lengthy for 
 its elevation. But the palm tree, of which it is an imita- 
 tion, pleafes ftill more, becaufe the ftellated and radiating 
 forms of its palms, likewife taken from the ftraight line, 
 conftitute a very agreeable oppofition with the roundnefs 
 of its ftem ; and if, to this, you unite the harmonic form 
 by way of excellence, namely, the circular, you will add 
 inexprefTibly to the grace of this beautiful tree. This, 
 likewife, Nature, who knows much more of the matter 
 than we, has taken care to do, by fufpending, at the bafis 
 of its divergent boughs, fometimes the oval date, and 
 fometimts the rounded cocoa nut. 
 
 In general, as often as you employ tl^ circular form, 
 you will greatly enhance the agreeablenefs of it, by unit- 
 ing it with the two contraries of which it is compofed ; 
 for, you will then have a complete elementary progreffion. 
 The circular form alone prefents but one expreffion, the 
 moft beautiful of all, in truth ; but united to its two ex- 
 tremes, it forms, if I may fo exprefs myfelf, an entire 
 thought. It is from the efFe6l which thence refults, that 
 the vulgar confider the form of the heart to be fo beauti- 
 ful, as to compare to it every other beautiful and inter- 
 efting objeft. That is beautiful as a heart, fay they.* 
 This heart form confifls, at its bafis, of a projeBing angle, 
 and above, of a retreating angle ; there we have the ex- 
 tremes : And in its collateral parts, of two fpherical por- 
 tions : there is the harmonic exprefiion. 
 
 It is, farther, from thefe fame harmonies, that long 
 ridges of mountains, overtopped by lofty peaks of a pyra- 
 midica! form, feparated from each other by deep valleys, 
 delight us by their gracefulnefs and majefiy. If to thefe 
 
 * Is not our Author here indulging fancy, rather than following Nature ? 
 If this be an idea and expreflion of tke common people, it muft be the 
 commonalty of a particular country. Heart is, perhaps, univerfally ufed to 
 exprefs fondnefs, affefllon, denre ; but to reprcfcnt the forri of that organ 
 as beautiful, nay, the cjense of beauty, i$, furelv, a violent ftrctch of imagina- 
 tion. ' H. H. 
 
§2 A VINDICATION Of 
 
 you add rivers meandering below, radiating poplars wav- 
 ing on their banks, flocks of cattle and fhepherds, you 
 will have vales fimilar to that of Tempe. The circular 
 forms of the mountains, in fuch a landfcape, are placed 
 between their extremes, namely, the prominency of the 
 rocks, and the cavity of the valleys* But if you feparate 
 from it the harmonic expreflions, that is, the circular 
 wavings of thofe mountains, together with their peace- 
 ful inhabitants, and allow the extremes only to remain, 
 you will then have the dreary profpe6l of Cape Horn ; 
 angular, perpendicular rocks, hanging over fathomlefs a- 
 byfles. 
 
 If to thefe you add oppofitions of colour, as that of 
 fnow on the fummits of the dufky rocks, the foam of the 
 billows breaking on the lurid fhore, a pale fun in a gloomy 
 fky, torrents of rain in the midft of Summer, tremendous 
 fqualls of wind fucceeded by fuUen calms, a European 
 vefTel, on her way to fpread defolation over the iflands of 
 the South Sea,* running upon a rock when it is begin- 
 ning to grow dark, firing, from time to time, guns, the 
 fi gnal of diftrefs, the noife of which the echoes of thofe 
 horrid dcfcrts reverberate, the terrified Patagonian run- 
 ning in amazement to his cave ; you will have a com- 
 plete view of that land of defolation, covered over with 
 the (hades of death. 
 
 • Would not iheefltft of thisdrea^dful pifturc have been confidcrabiy 
 flrcngthened,had our Author rcprefcnted his European veffcl as attempting 
 to double C:»pe Horn, on her return from fpreading devaftation over th? 
 South Seas, and making fbipwreck on that dreary coaft, after the fcene of 
 blood was aded ? In this cafe we fiiould have had the ftriking and inftruc 
 live reprefentation of the connexion between Human Guilt and Divine 
 Juftice ; of the claihirig collifion of criminality and vengeance, H. H. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 33 
 
 Vf Movements-. 
 
 It remains that 1 fuggeft a few refle^llons on the fub= 
 je6l of motions. Of thefe we ftiall, in like manner dif- 
 tinguifh five which are fundamental : Self motion, or the 
 rotation of a body round itfelf, which fuppofes no change 
 of place, and which is the principle of all motion ; fuch 
 is, perhaps, that of the Sun ; after that, the perpendicular, 
 the circular, the horizontal and the flate of reft. All move- 
 ments whatever may be referred to thefe five. Nay, you will 
 remark that Geometricians, who reprefent them likewife 
 by figureSj fuppofe the circular motion to be generated of 
 the perpendicular and the horizontal, and, to make ufe 
 of their language, produced by the diagonal of their 
 fquares. 
 
 I fhall not infift on the analogies of the generation of 
 colours and forms, to thofe of the generation of move- 
 ments ; and which aftually exift, between the white col- 
 our, the ftraight line, and felfmotion, or rotation ; between 
 the red colour, the fpherical form, and circular motion : 
 between darknefs, vacuity, and reft. I fhall not pretend 
 to unfold the infinite combinations which might refulr 
 from the union, or oppofition, of the correfponding terms 
 of each generation, and of the filiations of thefe fame 
 terms. I leave to the Reader the pleafure of following 
 up this idea, and of forming to himfelf, with thefe ele- 
 ments of Nature, harmonies the moft enchanting, with 
 the additional charm of novelty. I ftiall confine my- 
 felf, at prefent, to a few hafty obfervations refpcfting mo- 
 tion. 
 
 Of all movements, the harmonic, or circular motion, is 
 the moft agreeable. Nature has difFufed it over moft of 
 her works, and has rendered even the vegetables, which 
 are faftened down to the earth, fu fceptiblc of it, Oui 
 
 VOL. II. E 
 
14 A Vindication of 
 
 plains prefent frequent images of this, when the wind.-^ 
 form, on the meadow, or on the cornfield, a feries pf un- 
 dulations, refembling the waves of the fea ; or when they 
 gently agitate, on the fides of the lofty mountains, the 
 towering tops of the trees, waving them about in fegments 
 ot a circle. Moll birds form portions of great circles as 
 they play through the airy expanfe, and feem to take 
 pleafure in tracing, as they fly, an infinite variety of curves 
 and fpiral motions. It is remarkable that Nature has be- 
 llowed this agreeable ftyle of flying on many of the inof- 
 fenfive fpecies of the feathered race, not otherwife to be 
 prized for the exquifitenefs of either their fong or their 
 plumage. Such, among others, is the flight of the fwal- 
 low. 
 
 The cafe is very different with refpeft to the progref^ 
 five movements of ferocious or noxious animals. They 
 advance kaping, fpringing, and join to movements fome- 
 times extremely flow, others violently rapid : This is ob- 
 fervable in the motion of the cat lying in wait to catch 
 a moufe. Thofe of the tiger are exaftly fimilar, in hi» 
 approaches upon his prey. The fame difcordancy is ob- 
 fervable in the flight of carnivorous birds. The fpecies 
 of owl called the grand duke, floats through the midfl: of 
 a tranquil fky, as if the wind carried him this way and 
 that. Tempefts prefent, in the Heavens, the fame char- 
 afters of deftru6lion. You fometimes perceive the ftormy 
 clouds moving in oppofite direftions, and with various 
 decrees of velocity ; now they fly with the rapidity of 
 lightning, while others remain immoveable as the rock. 
 In the tremendous hurricanes of the Weft Indies, the 
 explofion is always preceded and followed by a dead calm. 
 
 The more that a body polTefles of felf motion, or of 
 rotation, the more agreeable it appears, efpecially when 
 to this movement is united the harmonic, or circular mo- 
 tion. It is for this reafon, that trees whofe leaves are 
 moveable, fuch as the afpin and poplar, have more grace 
 than other foreft trees, when agitated by the wind. They 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 35 
 
 pieafe the eye by the balancing of their tops, and by pre- 
 fenting, in turns, the two furfaces of their foliage, which 
 difplay two different greens. They are likewife agreea- 
 ble to the ear, from their imitation of the bubbling of 
 water. From the effeft of felf motion, it is, that, every 
 moral idea out of the queftion, animals intereft us more 
 than vegetables, becaufe they have the principle of mo- 
 tion within themfelves. 
 
 I do not believe there is a fingle fpot op the Earth in 
 which there is not fome body in motion. Frequently 
 have I been in the midft of vaft folitudes, by day and by 
 night, and in feafons of perfe6l tranquillity, and I have 
 always heard fome noife or another. Often, in truth, it 
 was only the found of a bird flying, or of an infetl llir- 
 ring a leaf ; but found always fuppofes motion. 
 
 Motion is the expreflion of life. In this you fee the 
 reafon why Nature has multiplied the caufes of it in all 
 her works. One of the great charms of a landfcape is to 
 fee objeft s in motion ; and this is the very thing which 
 the piftures of moft of our great Mafters frequently fail 
 to exprefs. If you except fuch of them as reprefent 
 tempefts, you will find, everywhere elfe, their forefls and 
 their meadows motionlefs, and the water of their lakes con- 
 gealed. Neverthelefs, the inverfion of the leaves of trees 
 prefenting a gray or white under fide ; the undulations 
 of the grafs in the valleys, and on the ridges of the moun- 
 tains ; thofe which ruffle the fmooth furface of the waters, 
 and the foam which whitens the fhores, recal, with inex- 
 prefTible pleafure, in a burning fummer fcene, the breath 
 fo gentle and fo cooling of the zephyrs. To thefe might 
 be added, with infinite grace, and with powerful effeft, 
 the movements peculiar to the animals which Inhabit 
 them : For example, the concentric circles which the div- 
 ing bird forms on the furface of the water ; the flight of 
 a fea fowl taking its departure from a hillock, with neck 
 advancing, and legs thrown backward ; that of two white 
 turtles fkimmiug fide by fide, in the ihade, along the fkirts 
 
g6 A VINDICATION or 
 
 of a foreft ; the balancing of a wagtail on the extremity 
 of the foliage of a rufli, bending under his weight. It 
 might be poffible even to reprefent the motion and the 
 weight of a loaded carriage toiling up a hill, by exprefling 
 the dull of the crufhed pebbles which rifes up behind its 
 wheels. Nay, I will go fo far as to fay, that I think the 
 efFefts of the finging of birds, and of the echoes, might be 
 rendered perceptible, by the expreffion of certain charac- 
 ters which it is not neceffary here to unfold. 
 
 So far are moft of our Painters, even among thofe 
 whofe talents are moft confpicuous, from paying attention 
 to acceffories fo agreeable, that they omit them in fub- 
 jefts of which thofe acceffories form the principal char- 
 after. For example, if they reprelent a chariot at full 
 fpeed, they take pains to exhibit every fpoke of the 
 wheels. The horfes, indeed, are galloping, but the char- 
 iot is immoveable. The wheels of a carriage, however, 
 that is running with a rapid motion, prefent but one fm- 
 gle furface ; all their fpokes are confounded to the eye. 
 It was not thus that the Ancients, our mafters in every 
 branch of Art, imitated Nature. PHny tells us, that Apel- 
 les had fo exa6tly painted chariots with four horfes, that 
 the wheels appeared to be turning round. In the curious 
 lift which he has tranfmitted to us of the moft celebrated 
 piftures of antiquity, and ftill viewed v/ith admiration at 
 Rome in his time, he particularly mentions one which 
 reprefented women fpinning wool, whofe fpindles feemed 
 aftually to whirl. Another was held in high eftimation,* 
 *' in which were reprefented two light armed foldiers, the 
 ** one of whom is fo heated with running in battle, that 
 *'. vou fee him fweat, and the other, who is laying down 
 •' his arms, appears fo exhaufted, that you imagine you 
 *' hear him panting." I have feen, in many modern 
 piftures, machines in motion, wrcftlers and warriors in 
 aftion, but in no one of them did I ever find attention 
 
 • Pliny's Natural HiRorv. Bookxxwii. chap, ic and l\. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 37 
 
 paid to thefe effefts To fimple, and fo exprefTive of the 
 truth of Nature. Our painters confider them as petty- 
 details, beneath the notice of a man of genius. Neverthe- 
 lefs thefe petty details are traits of charafter. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius, who poffefTed fully as much genius 
 as anv modern whatever, has very judicioufly obferved, 
 that, m many cafes, it is on fuch minutenefTes the atten- 
 tion fixes, and from the contemplation of thefe the mind 
 derives the moft pleafure. " The fight of the fhrivelling 
 " of ripe figs," fays he, " the bufliy eyebrows of a lion, 
 " the foaming of an enraged wild boar, the reddifii fcales 
 ** which rife on the cruft of bread coming out of the ov- 
 " en, give pleafure." This pleafure may be accounted 
 for in various ways : Firft, from the weaknefs of the hu- 
 man mind, which, in contemplating any obje6l whatever, 
 fixes on fome one principal point ; and then, from the de- 
 fign of Nature, who, likewife, in all her works, prefents 
 to us one fingle point of conformity, or of difcordancy, 
 nvhich is, as it were, its centre. The mind increafes its 
 affeftion, or its averfion, for this charafteriftic trait, the 
 more fimple that it is, and, in appearance, contemptible. 
 This is the reafon that, in eloquence, the fhorteft expref- 
 fions always convey the ftrongeft pafiions ; for all that is 
 requifite, as we have hitherto feen, in order to excite a 
 fenfation of pleafure, or of pain, is to determine a point 
 oi harmony, or of difcord, between two contraries : Now, 
 when thefe two contraries are oppofites in nature, and are 
 I'o, befides, in magnitude and in weaknefs, their oppofition 
 redoubles, and confequently their effect. 
 
 The effeft is farther heightened, if to this is joined, ef- 
 pecially, the furprife of feeing ftriking occafious of hope, 
 or of fear, produced by objefts of apparently fmall im- 
 portance ; for every phyfical effeft produces, in Man, a 
 moral feeling. For example, 1 have feen many piftures, 
 and read many defcriptions, of battles, which attempted 
 to infpire horror, by reprefenting an infinite variety of in- 
 fti-umems of deltruftion, and a mvjltitude of dyin^r aik4 
 
gS A VINDICATION of 
 
 dead perfons, wounded in every poflible manner. The 
 lefs did I feel my fell moved, the more I perceived the 
 machinery employed to move me : One efFeft deftroyed 
 the other. But 1 have been greatly affeaed by reading, 
 in Plutarch, the death of Cleopatra. 
 
 That great Painter of calamity reprefents the Queen 
 of Egypt meditating, in the tomb of Anthony, on the 
 means of eluding the triumph of Augujlus. A peafant 
 brings her, with permillion of the guards on duty at the 
 entrance of the tomb, a balket of figs. The moment that 
 the clown has retired, fhe haflens to uncover the bafket, 
 and perceives the afpic, which, by her contrivance, had 
 been introduced among the figs, to put a period to her 
 miferable life. This contrail, a woman being the fubjeft, 
 of libertv and flavery, of royal power and annihilation, 
 of voiuptuoufnefs and death ; thofe leaves and fruits a- 
 midft which Ihe perceives only the head and fparkling 
 eyes of a puny reptile, prepared to terminate interefls of 
 fuch " great pith and moment;" and which Hie thus ad- 
 dre^ts^'^There you are! all thefe oppofitions, one after 
 another, make you Ihudder. 
 
 But, in order to render the perfon itfelf of Cleopatra 
 interefting, there is no occafion to reprefent her to your^ 
 felf, as our Painters and Sculptors exhibit her, an academ- 
 ic figure deflitute of exprefTian ! a {trapping virago, ro- 
 buft, and replete v/ith health, with large eyes, turned to- 
 ward Heaven, and wearing round her large and brawny 
 arm a ferpent twlfted, like a bracelet. This is by no 
 means a reprefentation of the little, voluptuous Queen of 
 Egypt, who had herfelf carried, as 1 before mentioned, 
 packed up in a bundle of goods, on the Ihoulders oi Apol- 
 lodorus, to keep a flolen adignation with Julius Cejar ; 
 at anotlier time walking the ftreets of Alexandria by 
 night, with Anthony, difguifed as a fempftrefs, rallying 
 him, and infiftlng that his jeils, and ftyleof humour, fmelt 
 itrongly of the foldier. Still lefs is it a reprefentation ot 
 ihe unfortunate Cleopatra, reduced to the extreme of c^a-. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 39 
 
 iaftilty, dragging up, by means of cords and chains, with 
 the afliftance of two ot her women, through the window 
 of the monument in which fhe had taken refuge, with 
 her head downward, without ever letting go her hold^ 
 fays Plutarch^ that very Anthony^ covered over with 
 blood, who had run himfelf through with his own fword, 
 and who ftruggled with all his remaining ftrength to get 
 up, and expire in her arms* 
 
 Details are by no means to be defpifed ; they are fre- 
 quently traits of charafter. To return to our Painters 
 and Sculptors ; if they withhold the expreflion of mo- 
 tion to landfcapes, to wreftlers, and to chariots in the 
 courfe, they beftow it on the portraits and the ftatues of 
 our great Men and Philofophers. They reprefent them 
 as Angels founding the alarm to judgment, with hair fly- 
 ing about, with wild wandering eyes, the mufcles of the 
 face in a ftate of convulfion, and their garments fluttering 
 in the wind. Thefe, they tell us, are the expreflions of 
 genius. But perfons of genius, and great Men, are not 
 bedlamites. 1 have feen fome of their portraits, on an* 
 tiques. The medals of Virgil, of Plato, of Scipio, of 
 Epaminondas, nay, of Alexander, reprefent them with a 
 ferene and tranquil air. It is the property of inanimate 
 matter, of vegetables, and of mere animals, to obey all the 
 movements of Nature ; but it is that of a great Man, in 
 my opinion, to have his emotions under command, and it 
 is only in fo far as he exercifes this empire, that he mer- 
 its the name of Great. 
 
 I have made a fliort digreflion from my fubjeft, in or* 
 der to fuggeft a few lefTons of conformity to Artifts, who, 
 I am well aware, will find it much more diflRcult to ex- 
 ecute, than it is eafy for me to criticife. God forbid 
 that any thing I have faid fhould give a moment's pain to 
 men whofe works have fo frequently given me exquifite 
 pleafure. It was fimply my wifli to caution the ingenious 
 Againft the academic manner which fetters them, and t^ 
 
40 A VINDICATION of 
 
 flimulate them to tread in the fteps of Nature, and to pur- 
 fue that track as far as genius can carry them. 
 
 This would be the place to fpeak of Mufic, for founds 
 are movements merely : But perfons of much greater a- 
 bility than 1 dare pretend to, have treated this noble Art 
 with cotifummate fkill. If any foreign teftimony could 
 farther confirm me in the certainty of the principles which 
 I have hitherto laid down, it is that of Muficians of the 
 higheft reputation, who have reftrifted harmonic expref- 
 fion to three founds. I might, as they have done, reduce 
 to three terms the elementarv generations of colours, 
 of forms, and of motions ; but if I am not miftaken, they 
 thcmfelves have omitted, in their fundamental bafis, the 
 generative principle, which \& found properly fo call- 
 ed, and the negative term, which is filence ; efpecially as 
 this laft produces effe£ls fo powerful in the movements 
 of Mufic. 
 
 Thefe proportions might be extended to the progref- 
 fions of tailing, and it might be demonftratedj that the 
 moft agreeable of them have fimilar generations ; as we 
 know, by experience, to be the cafe with regard to moft 
 fruits, whofe different ftages of maturity fucceffively pre- 
 fent five favours^ namelyj the acid, the fweet, the fugary, 
 the vinous and the bitter. They are acid while growing, 
 fweet as they ripen, fugary in a ftate of perfeft maturity, 
 vinous in their fermentation, and bitter in a flate of dry- 
 nefs. Farther, we fhould find that the mofl agreeable of 
 thefe favours, namely, the fugary, is that which occupies 
 the middle place in this progrefTion, of which it is the 
 harmonic term ; that, from its nature, it forms new har.^ 
 monies, by a combination with its extremes ; for the bev- 
 erages which are moft grateful to the palate, confill of acid 
 and fugar, as the refrefhing liquors prepared with citron 
 juice; or of fugar and bitter, fuch as coffee. But while 
 1 am endeavouring to open new paths to Philofophy, it 
 is no part of my intention to prefent new combinations 
 to voluptuoufnefs. 
 
DiyiNE PROVIDENCE. 41 
 
 Though I have a thorough cgnyiftion .of the truth of 
 thefe elemeatary genejrations, and am able to fupport them 
 with a multitude of proofs which 1 have coUefted, in the 
 tailes of polifhed, and of fayage Nations, but which time 
 permits me i*ot,,i>t prejfeijt, to exhibit ; it would, however, 
 ■be a matter of no furprife to me, fhould many of my 
 iReaders diffent from what I have advanced. Qur natural 
 i^ftes are perv;erted from our infancy, by prejudices ^yhicih 
 determine our phyfical fenfations, much more po\Yerfully 
 than thefe laft give direftion to our moral affeftions* 
 More than one Churchman confiders violet as the mofl 
 beautiful of colours, becaufe his 3ifhop wears it : iVlor^ 
 Bifhops than one give fcarlet the preference, becaufe it is 
 the Cardinal's colour ; and more than one Cardinal, un- 
 doubtedly, would rather be dreffed in white, becaufe this 
 colour is appropriated to the Head of the Church. A 
 foldier, frequently, looks upon the red as the raoft beauti- 
 ful of all ribbons ; but his fuperior officer prefers the 
 blue. Our temperaments, as well as our conditions, have 
 .an influence upon pur opinions. 
 
 Gay people prefer lively colours to every other ; per- 
 fons of fenfibility, thofe which are delicate ; the melan- 
 choJy aflume the dufls^y. Though 1 myfelf confider red 
 as the moft beautiful qf colours, and the fphere as the 
 mofl perfeft of forms ; and though I am botmd more than 
 any other man, flrenuoufly to adhere to this order, be- 
 caufe it is that of my fyftem, I prefer to the full red, the 
 carmine colour, which has a flight fliade of violet; and 
 to the fphere, the oval, or elliptical form. It likewife ap- 
 pears to me, if I may venture to fay fo, that Nature has 
 befl;owed, by way of preference, both of thefe modifica- 
 tions on the rofe, at leaft before it is completely expanded. 
 Farther, I like violet flowers better than white, and ft 111 
 much better than fuch as are yellow. I prefer a branch 
 of lilach in bloom to a pot of gilliflower,* and a Chi- 
 
 Dr. Johnfon tells us that Cillijloxuer is a corruption in orthography for 
 ^uhjiowcr. With due refpeft to fa great aa Etym:)lo<jift, this 1 take to be 
 VOL, II. F 
 
4f A VINDICATION of 
 
 nefe daify, vWth its difk of a fmoky yellow, its rumpled 
 fhaggy down, its vit)let and grave petals, to the mod flafhy 
 clufler of funflowers in the Luxemburg. 
 
 I am perfuaded that I have thefe taftes in common with 
 rtiany other perfons, and that, if we form a judgment of 
 men from the colour of their clothes, by far the majority 
 is rather ferious than gay- I am likewife of opinion, that 
 Nature, for to her we muft ever have recourfe in order to 
 be afTured that we are right, gives moft of her phyfical 
 beauties a tendency to melancholy. The plaintive notes 
 of the nightingale, the deep fhades of the foreft, the fober 
 luflre of the Moon, infpire no gaiety, neverthelefs they in- 
 tereft us, and that deeply. I feel much more emotion in 
 contemplating the fetting than the rifmg Sun. In general, 
 we are pleafed by gay and fprightly beauties, but we are 
 melted and touched only by thofe which are melancholy. 
 
 I fliall endeavour, in another place, to unfold the caufes 
 of thefe moral afFeftions. They ftand in connexion with 
 laws more fublime than any phyfical laws : While thefe 
 la ft amufe our fenfes, the other fpeak to the heart, and 
 calmly admonifti us, that Man is ordained to a much higher 
 deftination. 
 
 It is very poflible that I may be miftaken in the order 
 of thofe generations, and may have tranfpofed their terms. 
 But all that I, from the beginning, propofed, was to open 
 fome new paths into the Study of Nature. It is fufficient 
 for my purpofe, that the effeft oi thefe generations is gen- 
 erally acknowledged. Men more enlightened will eliab- 
 iifh the filiations of them in a more luminous order. All 
 ihat 1 have hitherto faid on this fubjeft, or hereafter may 
 fay, is reducible to this great Law: Every thing in Na- 
 ture is formed of contraries : It is from their harmonies 
 
 a miftakc. The flowering of the plant is by no means limited to the month 
 of July. The EngUfti term is derived from the French word Girojlicr^ 
 (the clove plant ;) every one knows the (Iriking analogy between the favour 
 of that fpice, and the fmell of the Gilliflower. H, H. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 4^ 
 
 that the fentiment of pleafure refults, and out of their op- 
 pofitions ilTues the fentiment of pain. 
 
 This Law, as we fhall fee, extends alfo to morals. 
 Every truth, the truths of faft excepted, is the refuh of 
 two contrary ideas. From this it follows, that as often as 
 we decompound a truth, by diale6lics, we divide it into 
 the two ideas of which it is conftituted ; and if we con- 
 fine ourfelvcs to one of its elementary ideas, as to a de- 
 tJiched principle, and deduce confequences from it, we 
 ihal] convert it into a fource of endlefs difputation ; for 
 the other elementary idea will abundantly fupply confe- 
 quences diametrically oppofite to the perfon who is dif- 
 pofed to purfue them ; and thefe confequences are them- 
 felves fufceptible of contradiftory decompofitions, which 
 go on without end. The Schools are admirably adapted 
 to inftruft us how to manage this procefs ; and thither 
 are we fent to form our judgment. There are we taught 
 to feparate the moft evident truths not only into two, but, 
 as Hudibras fays, into four. If, for example, fome one 
 of our Logicians, obferving that cold had an influence on 
 vegetation, Ihould think proper to maintain, that cold is 
 the only caufe of it, and that heat is even inimical to it, 
 he would take care, no doubt, to quote the efflorefcences 
 and the vegetations of ice, the growth, the verdure, and 
 the flowering of mofles in Winter ; plants burnt up by 
 the heat of the Sun, in Summer, and many other effefts 
 relative to his thefis. But his antagonifl:, availing him- 
 feif, on his fide, of the influences of Spring, and of the 
 ravages of Winter, would clearly demxonflrate, that heat 
 alone gives life to the vegetable world. But the truth is, 
 after all, that heat and cold combined form one of the 
 principles of vegetation, not only in temperate climates, 
 but to the very heart of the Torrid Zone. 
 
 It may confidently be affirmed, that all the diforders, 
 in both Phyfics and Morals, are neither more nor lefs 
 than the clafliing oppofition of two contraries. If men 
 would pay attention to this Law, there would be a fpeedu 
 
44 A \aNDICATION of 
 
 end put t6 mofl of their wranglings and miftakes ; far ii 
 may be urged, that, every thing being compofed of con- 
 traries, whoever affirms a fimple propofition, is only half 
 right, as the contrary propofition has equally an exiftencfc 
 in nature. 
 
 There is, perbaps, ia the World but one intelleftual 
 truth, pure, fimple, and which does not admit of a contra- 
 ry idea ; it is the exiftence of GOD. It is very reroarkai 
 ble, that thofe who have denied it, adduce no other ^rdofs 
 to fupport their negation, but the apparent diforderS' ,df 
 Nature, the extreme principles of which alone they con- 
 templated : So that they have not demonftrated, that no 
 God exifted, but that He was not intelligent, or that He 
 Was not good. Their error, accordingly, proceeds from 
 their ignorance of natural Laws. Befides, their arguments 
 have been iounded, for the moft part, on the diforders of 
 men, who exift in ah order widely different from that of 
 Nature, and who alone, of all beings endowed with per- 
 ception, have been committed to their own dire6lion. 
 
 -iAs to the nature of GOD, 1 know that faith itfelf pre- 
 ferits Him to us, as the harmonic principk by way of fu- 
 preme excellence, not only with relation to all that fur- 
 rounds Him, of which He is the Creator and Mover, but 
 even in his eflence divided into three perfons. Bqjuet 
 has extended thefe harmonies of Deity to Man, by trac- 
 ing in the operations of the human Soul, fame confonan- 
 cy to the Trinity, of which it is the image. Tliefe lofty 
 fpeculations are, I acknowledge, infinitely above mv 
 reach. Nav, I am filled with admiration to think, that 
 the Divinity fhould have permitted beings fo weak, 
 and fo tranfitory, as we are, to take fo much as a glirapfe 
 of his onmipoteiice on this Earth ; and that he fhould have 
 veiled, under combinations of matter, the operations ol 
 his infinite Intelligence, in order to adapt it to our per- 
 ception. A fingle aft of his will was fufBcieht to call 
 us into being; the flighteft communication of his works 
 is fufficient 'to illununate our reafon ; but I have a thor- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 4^ 
 
 ©ugh pcrfuafion, that if the fmalleft ray of his divine ef- 
 fence were to communicate itfelf direftly to us, in a hu» 
 inan body, we muft be annihilated. 
 
 OF CONSONANCES, 
 
 Confonances are repetitions of the fame harmonies. 
 They increafe our pleafures hy multiplying them, and 
 by transferring the enjoyment of them to new fcenes. 
 They farther communicate pleafure, by rendering it per- 
 ceptible to us, that the fame Intelligence has prefided o- 
 ver the different plans of Nature, as it prefents to us, 
 throughout, fimilar harmonies. Confonances, accordingly, 
 confer more pleafure than fimple harmonies, becaufe they 
 convey to us the fentiments of extenfion, and of Divinity, 
 fo congenial to the nature of the human Soul. Natural 
 objeEs excite in us a certain degree of fatisfaftion, only 
 in fo far as they iawaken and difpiay an intelle6fual feel- 
 ing. 
 
 We find frequent examples of confonances in Nature. 
 The clouds of the Horizon frequently imitate, on the 
 Sea, the forms of mountains, and the afpefts of land, and 
 this fo exaftly, as often to deceive the mo ft experienced 
 mariners. The waters refleB; from their heaving bofom, 
 the heavens, the hills, the forefts. The echoing rocks; 
 in iheir tunn, repeat the murmuring of the waters. As i 
 was walking one day, in the Pais de Caux, along the fea- 
 fide, and confidering the reflexes of the fliorc in the bo*- 
 fom of the water, I was not a little aftonifhed to hear oth- 
 er waves emitting a dying found behind me. 1 turned 
 round, and perceived only a high and fteep Ihore, the 
 echoes of wiuch were repeating the noife of the waves. 
 This double confonance appeared to mc wonderfully a- 
 
46 A VINDICATION of 
 
 greeablc. You would have faid there was a mountain ia 
 the fea, and a Tea in the mountain. 
 
 Thofe tranfpofitions of harmony, from one element to 
 another, commimicate inexpreffible pleafure. Nature has 
 multiplied them, accordi:;igly, with boundlefs liberality, 
 not only in fugitive images, but by permanent forms. She 
 has repeated, in the midfl of the Seas, the forms ot Conti- 
 nents, in thofe of iflands ; moft of which, as we have feen, 
 have peaks, mountains, lakes, rivers and plains, propor- 
 tioned to their extent, as if they were little Worlds. On 
 the other hand, fhe reprefents in the midfl of the Land, 
 the bafons of the vafl Ocean, in mediterraneans, and in 
 great lakes, which have their fhores, their rocks, their 
 ifles, their volcanoes, their currents,' and, fometimes, a 
 flux and reflux peculiar to themfelves, and which is occa- 
 sioned by the efFufioris from icy mountains, at the bafis of 
 which they are commonly fituated, as the currents and 
 tides of the Ocean are, by thofe of the Poles. . 
 
 It is fingularly remarkable, that the moft beautiful har- 
 monies are thofe which have the moft confonances. Noth- 
 ing in the World, for example, is more beautiful than the 
 Sun, and nothing in nature is fo frequently repeated as his 
 form, and his light. He is refle6led in a thoufand differ- 
 ent manners by the refraftions of the air, which every day 
 exhibit him above all the horizons of the Globe, before 
 he is a£lually rifen, and. for.fome time after he has fet ; 
 by the parhelia which refleft his difk, fometimes. twice or 
 thrice, in the mifty. clouds of the North ; by the rainy 
 cloiids, in which his refra6led rays trace an arch fhaded 
 with a thoufand various colours ; and by the waters, 
 whofe reflexes exhibit him in an infinite number of places 
 where he is not, in the bofo.m of meadows, amidft flowers 
 befprinkled with dew, and in the fhade of green forefts. 
 The dull and inert earth, too, refle6ls him in the fpecular 
 particles of gravels, of micas, of cryftals and of rocks, 
 Itprefjents to us the form of his difk, and of his rays, ia 
 ihe,di|lvS and petals of the myriads of radiated flowers wilK 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 47 
 
 which it is covered; In a word, this beautiful ftar has 
 multiplied himfelf to infinity, with varieties of which we 
 know nothing, in the innumerable ftars of the firmament^ 
 which he difcovers to us, as foon as he quits our Hori- 
 zon ; as if he had withdrawn himfeif , from the confonan- 
 ces of the earth, only to difplay to the delighted ey:e thofc 
 of Heaven* 
 
 From this Law of confonance it follows, that what is 
 beft and moft beautiful in Nature, is likewife moft com- 
 mon, and the moft frequently repeated. To it we mufl 
 afcribe the varieties of fpecies in each genus, which are fo 
 much the more numerous, in proportion as that genus is 
 ufetuL For example, there is no family in the vegetable 
 kingdom fo necelTaiy as that of the gramineous, on which 
 fubfift not only all the quadrupeds, but endlefs tribes of 
 birds and infefts ; and there is no one, accordingly, whofe 
 fpecies are To varied. We fhall take notice, in the Study 
 on Plants, of the reafons of this variety, I fhall only re- 
 mark, in this place, that it is in the gramineous families 
 Man has found the great diverfity of nutritious grains, 
 from which he derives his chief fubfiftcnce ; and that 
 from reafons of confonance, not only the fpecies, but fev- 
 ■cral of the genera, nearly approach to each other, in or- 
 der that they may pi:efent fimilar fervices to Man, under 
 Latitudes entirely different. Thus, the millet of Africa, 
 the maize of Brafil, the rice of Afia, the palmfago of the 
 Moluccas, the trunks of which are filled with alimentary 
 flower, are in confonance with the corns of Europe. We 
 Ihall find confonances of another kind in the fame places, 
 as if it had been the intention of Nature to multiply her 
 benefits, by varying only the form of them, without 
 changing almoft any thing of their qualities. Thus, in 
 our gardens, what a delightful and beneficial confonancy 
 between the orange and citron trees, the apple and the 
 pear, the walnut and the filbert ; and in our farm yards, 
 between the horfe and the afs, the goofe and the duck, tb« 
 cow and the (he goat. 
 
4l A VINDICATION or 
 
 Farther, eacK genus is in confonancy with itfelf, trdm 
 tiifference of fex. There are, however, between the fexes^ 
 contrails which give the greateft energy to their loves, 
 from the very oppofition of contraries, from which, as 
 we have feen, all harmony takes its birth : But without 
 the general confonancy of form which is between them, 
 fenfible beings of the fame genus never would have ap- 
 proached each other. Without this, one fex would have 
 forever remained a ftranger to the other. Before each 
 of them could have obferved what the other poffeffed 
 that correfponded to its necefhties, the time of refleftion 
 •would have abforbed that iof love, and, perhaps, have ex- 
 linguifhed all defire of it. It is confonancy which at- 
 traflis, and contrail which unites them. I do not believe 
 ithat there is in any one genus, an animal of one fex en- 
 tirely different from one of the other, in exterior forms; 
 and if fuch differences are a£lually found, as certain Nat- 
 uraliils pretend, in feveral fpecies of fifhes and infe6ls, 1 
 am fully perfuaded, that Nature placed the habitation of 
 tke male and of the female very clofe to each other, and 
 ^planted their nuptial couch at no great diftance from their 
 •cradle. 
 
 But there is a confonancy of forms, much more inti- 
 mate Hill than even that of the two fexes, 1 mean the du- 
 plicity of the organs which exifts in each individual. Ev- 
 ery animal is double. If you confider his two eyes, his two 
 noftrils, his two ears, the number of his legs and arms dif- 
 ■pofed by pairs, you would be tempted to fay, here are two 
 animals glued the one to the other,. and united under the 
 fame Ikin. Nay, the parts of his body which are fmgle, as 
 >the head, the tail, and the tongue, appear to be formed of 
 two halves, compared together by feams. This is not the 
 cafe with regard to the members properly fo called : For 
 -example, one hand, one ear, one eye, cannot be divided into 
 two fimilar halves ; but the duplicity of form in the parts 
 af the body, dillinguilhes them elfentially from the mem- 
 bers : For the part of the body is double, and the member 
 
BIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^g 
 
 h fingle : The former is always fingle and alone, and the 
 latter always repeated. Thus, the head and the tail of 
 an animal are parts of its body, and the legs and ears of it 
 are members. 
 
 •This law of Nature, one of the moft wonderful and one 
 of the lead obferved, deftroys, at one blow, all the hy- 
 pothefes which introduce chance into the organization of 
 beings ; for, independently of the harmonies which it pre- 
 fents, it doubles at once the proofs of a Providence, which 
 did not deem it fufhcient to give one principal oro-an to 
 each animal, adapted to each element in particular, fuch 
 as the eye, for the light of the Sun ; the ear, for the founds 
 of the air ; the foot, for the ground which is to fupport it : 
 But determined, befides, that every animal Ihould have 
 each of thofe organs by pairs. 
 
 Certain Sages have confidered this admirable duplica- 
 tion as a predifpofition of Providence, in order that the 
 animal might have a fubllitute always at hand, to fupply 
 the lofs of one of the double organs, expofed as they are 
 to fo many accidents ; but it is remarkable, that the inte- 
 rior parts of the body, which, at firft fight, appear to be 
 fingle, prefent, on clofer examination, a fimilar duplicity 
 ef forms, even in the human body, where they are more 
 confounded than in other animals. Thus the five lobes 
 of the lungs, one of which has a kind of divifion ; the 
 fiffure of the liver ; the fupernal feparation of the brain, 
 by the reduplication-of the dura mater ; ih^feptum luci- 
 ium, fimilar to a leaf of talc, which feparates the two an- 
 terior ventricles of it ; the two ventricles of the heart ■ 
 and the divifions of the other vifcera announce this double 
 union, and feem to indicate, that the very principle of life ^ 
 IS the confonance of two fimilar harmonies j^ 
 
 * Each organ is itfelf in oppofition with the element for which it is def- 
 tined ; fo that from their mutual oppofuion arifes a harmony which confli- 
 tutes the pieafure enjoyed by that organ. This is very remarkable, and 
 confirms the principles which we have laid down. Thus, the organ of vi- 
 ilon, adapted principally to the Sun, is a body fingularlv oppofice to him* 
 
 VOL. 11. & 
 
so f VINDICATION of 
 
 There farther refults from this duplicity of organs, a 
 much more extenfive range of utility than if they had' 
 been fmgle. Man, by the afli fiance of two eyes, can take 
 in, at once, more than half of the Horizon ; with a fm-- 
 gle one, he could fcarcely have embraced a third part. 
 Provided with two arms, he can perform an infinite num- 
 ber of a6lions which he never could have accompliflied 
 with one only ; fuch as raifing upon his head a load of 
 confiderable fize. and weight, and clambering up a tree. 
 Had he been placed upon one leg, not only would his po- 
 fnion be much more unfteady than upon two, but he 
 would be unable to walk \ his progreflive motion would 
 be reduced to crawling, or hopping. This method of ad- 
 vancing would be entirely difcordant to the conftitution 
 of the other parts of his body, and to the variety of foils 
 over which he is deftined to move. 
 
 If Nature has given a fmgle exterior organ to animals-, 
 fuch as the tail, it is becaufe the ufe of it, being extreme- 
 ly limited, extends but to a fingle a8:ion to which it is 
 fully equivalent. Befides, the tail, from its Ctuation, is 
 fecured againft almoft every danger. Farther, hardly any 
 but the very powerful animals have a long tail, as bulls, 
 horfes and lions. Rabbits and hares have it very fhort. 
 In feeble animals, which have one of confiderable length, 
 as the thornback, it is armed with prickles, or elfe it grows 
 
 in that it is almoft entirely aqueous. The Sun emits luminous rays ; the 
 eye, on the contrary, is furrounded by a dufky eyebrow which overjfhad- 
 ows it. The eye is, befides, veiled with a lid which can be raifed and 
 dropped at pleafure ; and it farther oppofes to the whitenefs of the light, 
 a tunic entirely black, called the uvca^ which clothes the extremity of the 
 optic nerve. 
 
 The other parts of the body prefent, in like manner, oppofitions to the 
 a£lion of the elements to which they are adapted. Accordingly, the feet 
 of animals which fcramble among rocks arc provided with pincers, as ihofe 
 of tygers and lions. Animals which inhabit cold countries, are clothed 
 with warm furs, and fo on. But, with all this, wc muft not always reckon 
 on finding thefe contraries of the fame fpccies in every animal. Nature 
 pofTeffes an infinite variety of mcms, for producing the fame cffcfts, coa- 
 formably to the ncccflitics of every individual. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 51 
 
 figain, if it happens to be torn off by an accident, as in the 
 c^fe of the lizard. Finally, whatever may be the fimplic- 
 ityof its uf€, this is remarkable, it is formed of two fim- 
 ilar halves, as the other parts of the body. 
 
 There are other interior confonances, which colleft 
 diagonally, if I may ufe theexpr^^ffion, the different organs 
 of the body, in order to form but one only and (ingle an- 
 imal of its two halves. I leave to Anatomifts the invefti- 
 gation of this incomprehenfible connexion : But, be their 
 knowledge ever fo extenfive, I much doubt whether they 
 will ever be able to trace the windings of this labyrinth. 
 Why, for inftance, fliould the pain which attacks a foot, 
 make itfelf felt, fometimes, in the oppofite part of the 
 head, and vice versa? I have feen a very aftonifhing proof 
 of this confonance in the cafe of a ferjeant, who is ftill 
 living, I believe, in the Hofpital of Invalids. This man 
 having a fencing bout one day with a comrade, who, as 
 well as himfelf, made ufe of his undrawn fword, received 
 a thruft in the lacrymal angle of the left eye, which imme- 
 diately deprived him of his fenfes. On coming to him- 
 felf, which did not happen till feveral hours afterward, 
 he was found to be completely paralytic in his right leg 
 and right arm, and no medical affi fiance has ever been a- 
 ble to reftore the ufe of them.* 
 
 I muff here obferve, that the cruel experiments every 
 day made on brutes, in the view of difcovering thefe fecret 
 correfpondencies of Nature, ferve only to fpread a thicker 
 
 * This foldier was of Franche Corate. I never faw him but once, and I 
 have forgotten his name, as well as that of the regiment to which he belong- 
 ed; but I have not loft the recolleftion of his virtuous conduft, which was 
 reported tome on undoubted authority. M'hen the accident above related 
 ient him to the Invalids, be remembered that, in his capacity of ferjeant, 
 he had inveigled, at the inftigationof his captain, in a country village, a. 
 young fellow tocnllft, who was the only fon of a poor widow, and who 
 was killed three months afterward in an engagement. The ferjeant recol- 
 lefting this aft of cruelty and injuftice, formed the refolution of abflaininaf 
 •from wine. He fold his allowance as a penfioner in the Hofpittl of the 
 Invalids, and remitted the amount every fix months to the mother whei», 
 he had robbed of her fan. 
 
52 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 veil over them ; lor their mufcles, contracied by terror 
 and pain, derange the courfe oF the animal fpirits, accel- 
 erate the velocity of the blood, put the nerves into a Hate 
 of convulfion, and tend much rather to unhinge the ani- 
 mal economy, than to unfold it. Thefe barbarous means, 
 employed by our modern Phyfics, have an influence ftill 
 more fatal on the morals of thofe who prafclife them ; lor, 
 together with falfe information, they infpire them with 
 the moil atrocious of all vices, which is cruelty. 
 
 If Alan may prefumc to put queflions to Nature refpe61:- 
 ing the operations which flieis pleafed to conceal, I fhould 
 prefer the road of pleafure ta that of pain. Of the pro- 
 priety of this fentiraent, I was witnefs to an inllance, at a 
 country feat in Normandy. Walking in one of the ad- 
 joining fields, with a young gentleman, who was the pro- 
 prietor of them, we perceived bulls a fighting. He ran 
 up to them, with his fla^f brandifhed, and the poor ani- 
 mals inftantly gave up their contention. He prefently 
 went up to the mofl ferocious of the tribe, and began to 
 tickle him, with his fingers, at the root of the tail. The 
 animal, whofe eyes were ftill inflamed with rage, became 
 motionlefs, with outftretched neck, expanded noftrils, 
 tranfpirinff the air with a fatisfaftion which moft amufing- 
 \y demonftrated the intimate correfpondence between this 
 extremity of his body and his head. 
 
 The duplicity of organs is farther obfervable^ even in, 
 vegetables, efpecially in their efFcntinl parts, fuch as the 
 anthtra of the flowers, which are double bodies ; in their 
 petals, one half of which correfponds exaftly to the oth- 
 er ; in the lobes of their feed, Sec. A fingle one of thefe 
 parts, however, appears to me fufhclent for the expanfioa 
 and the generation of the plant. This obfervation might 
 be extended to the very leaves, the two halves of which 
 are correfpondent in moft vegetables ; and if any one of 
 them recedes from this order, it is, undoubtedly, for forac 
 particular reafon, well worthy of invcftigation. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 33 
 
 Thefe fa£ls confirm the diftinftion which we have made 
 between the parts and the members of a body : For in the 
 leaves where this duplicity occurs, the vegetative faculty 
 is ufually to be found, which is diffufed over the body of 
 the vegetable itfelf. So that if you carefully replant 
 thofe leaves, and at the proper feafon, you will fee the 
 complete vegetable thence reproduced. Perhaps, it is 
 becaufe the interior organs of the tree are double, that 
 the principle of vegetative life is diffufed even over its 
 flips, as we fee it in a great number which fprout again 
 from one branch. Nay, there are forae which have the 
 power of perpetuating themfelves by cuttings fimply. 
 Of this we have a noted inllance in the memoirs of the 
 Academy of Sciences. Two fiflers, on the death of theii* 
 mother, became heirefTes of an orange tree. Each of 
 them infifled on having it thrown into her allotment. 
 At length, after much wrangling, and neither being dif-i 
 pofed to refign her claim, it was fettled that the tree 
 fhould be cleft in two, and each take her half. The- 
 orange tree, accordingly, underwent the judgment pro- 
 nounced by Solomon on the child. It Vv^as cleft afunder ; 
 each of the fifters replanted her own half, and, wonderful 
 to be told \ the tree, which had been feparated by fiilerlv- 
 animofity, received a new clothing of bark from the be- 
 nignant hand of Nature. 
 
 It is this univerfal confonance of forms which has fug- 
 gefled to Man the idea of fymmetry. He has introduced 
 it into moff of his works of art, and particularly into 
 Architefture, as an eiTential part of order. To fuch a 
 degree, in faft, is it the work of intelligence and of com.- 
 bination, that I confider it as the principal characler by 
 which we are enabled to diftinguifh all organized bodies 
 from fuch as are not fo, and are only refults of a fortu- 
 itous aggregation, however regular their afTembiyge may 
 appear ; fuch as thofe which produce cryflallizations, 
 efflorefcences, -chemical vegetations, and igneous efPufions. 
 
54 A VINDICATION o? 
 
 It was in conformity to thefe refle£lion5 that, on con- 
 fidering the Globe of the Earth, I obferved with the 
 greatefl furprife, that it too prefented, like every organiz- 
 ed hody, a duplicity of form. From the beginning it had 
 been my thought, that this Globe being the production of 
 in Intelligence, order muft of neceflity pervade it. I had 
 difcerned, and admired, the utility of iflands, and even of 
 that of banks, of Ihelves, and of rocks, to protect the parts 
 of the Continents which are moft expofed to the Currents 
 of, the Ocean, at the extremities of which they are always 
 fituated. I had, in like manner, difcerned the utility of 
 bays, which are, on the contrary, removed from the Cur- 
 rents of the Ocean, and hollowed into deep retreats t® 
 ihelter the difcharge of rivers, and to ferve, by the tran- 
 g^uillity of their waters, as an afylum to the fiflies, which 
 in all feas retire thither in fhoals, to colleft the fpoils of 
 vegetation, and the alluvions of the Land, which are there 
 ^ifgorged by the rivers. I had admired, in detail, the 
 proportions of their different fabrics, but had formed no 
 conception of their combination. My mind was bewil- 
 dered araidfl fuch a multiplicity of cuttings and carvings, 
 of land and fea ; and I fhould, without hefitation, have 
 afcribed the whole to chance, had not the order, which I 
 perceived in each of the parts, fuggefted to me the poiTi- 
 bility, that there might exift order alfo, in the totality of 
 the Work. 
 
 I am now going to difplay the Globe under a new af- 
 pect. The Reader, will, I hope, forgive this digreffion, 
 which exhibits to him one little fragment of the materials I 
 had laid up, for a geographical ftr-ufture, but which tends to 
 prove the univerfality of the natural Laws, whofe exiftence 
 lam endeavouring to eftablilh. I fhall be, as ufual, rap- 
 id and fuperficial : But it is a matter of very inferior im- 
 portance to myfelf, fhould I enfeeble ideas, which I have 
 not been permitted to arrange in their natural order, pro- 
 vided I am enabled to tranfmit the germ of them into a 
 head fupcrior to my own. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 55. 
 
 I firft endeavouried to find out confonances between the 
 northern and fouthern halves of the Globe. But fo far 
 from difcovering refemblances between them, I perceiv- 
 ed nothing but oppofitions ; the northern being, if I may 
 fo exprefs myfelf, a terreftrial Hemifphere only, and the 
 fouthern a maritime ; and fo different from each other, 
 that the Winter of the one is the Summer of the other ; 
 and that the feas of the firft Hemifphere feem to be op- 
 pofed to the lands, and to the iflands, which are fcattered 
 over the fecond. This contraft prefented to me another 
 analogy with an organized body : For, as we fhall fee in 
 the following articles, every organized body has two 
 halves in contraft, as there are two in confonance. 
 
 I found in it then, under this new afpeft, fomething 
 like an analogy with an animal, the head of which ftiould 
 have been to the North, from the attraction of the magnet, 
 peculiar to our Pole, which feems there to fix zfe?iforium,-. 
 as in the head of an animal : The heart under the Line, 
 from the conftant heat which prevails in the Torrid Zone, 
 and which feems to determine this as the region of the 
 heart ; finally, the excretory organs in the fouthern part, 
 in which the greateft Seas, the vaft receptacles of the allu- 
 vions of Continents, are fituated ; and where we, like- 
 wife, find the greateft number of volcanoes, which may 
 be confidered as the excretory organs of the Seas, whofe 
 bitumens and fulphurs they are inceffantly confumino-. 
 Befides, the Sun, who fojourns five or fix days longer in 
 the Northern Hemifphere, feemed to prefent to me a far- 
 ther, and a more marked, refemblance to the body of an 
 animal, in which the heart, the centre of heat, is fome- 
 what nearer to the head, than to the lower extremities. 
 
 Though thefe contrafts appeared to me fufficiently de- 
 terminate to manifeft an order on the Globe, and thouah 
 I perceived fomething fimilar in vegetables, diftinguifh- 
 ed as they are into two parts, oppofite in funftions and in 
 forms, fuch as the leaves and the roots ; I was afraid of 
 giving fcope to my imagination, and of attempting to gen- 
 
^S A VINDICATION or 
 
 cralife, througli the weaknefs of the human mirld, the? 
 Laws of Nature peculiar to each cxiflcnce, by extending 
 them to kingdoms, which were not fufceptible of the ap- 
 plication. 
 
 But 1 ceafed to doubt of the general order of the Globe, 
 Avhen, with two halves in contraft, I found two others in 
 confonance. I was ftruck with aftonifhment, 1 mufl con- 
 fefs, when I obferved, in the duplicity of forms which 
 conftitute it, members exaftly repeated on that fide and 
 on this. 
 
 The Globe, if we conhder it from Eaft to Weft, is di- 
 vided, as all organized bodies are, into two fimilar halves, 
 which are the Old and the New World. Each of their 
 parts mutually correfponds in the eaftern and weftern 
 Hemifpheres ; fea to fea, ifland to ifland, cape to cape, 
 peninfula to peninfula. The lakes oi Finland, and the 
 gulf of Archangel, correfpond to the lakes of Canada, 
 and Baffin's bay ; Nova Zembla to Greenland ; the Bal- 
 tic to Hudfon's bay ; the Iflands of Greatbritain and Ire- 
 land, which cover the firft of thefe mediterraneans, to the 
 Iflands of Good Fortune and Welcome, which proteft the 
 fecond ; the Mediterranean, properly fo called, to the gulf 
 of Mexico, which is a kind o^ mediterranean, formed, in 
 part, by iflands. At the extremity of the Mediterranean, 
 we find the ifthmus of Suez in confonance with the ifth- 
 mus of Panama, placed at the bottom of the gulf of Mex- 
 ico. Conjoined by thofc ifthmufes, the peninfula of A- 
 frica prefents itfelf in the Old World, and the peninfula 
 of South America in the New. The principal rivers ot 
 thefe diviflons of the Globe front each other in like man- 
 ner ; for the Senegal difcharges itfelf into the Atlantic, 
 d'reflly oppofite to the river of the Amazons. Finally, 
 each of thefe peninfulas, advancing toward the South 
 Pole, terminates in a cape equally noted for violent tem- 
 pefts, the Cape of Good Hope, and Ca])e Horn. 
 
 There are, befides, between thefe two Hemifpheres, a 
 variety of other points of confonance, on which I fliall 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 57 
 
 mo longei- infill. Thefe difFerent particulars, it is admit- 
 ted, do not correfpond in exaftly the fame Latitudes ; 
 but they are difpofed in the direction of a fpiral line wind- 
 ing from Eaft to Weft,, and extending frdm North to 
 South, fo that thefe correfponding points proceed in a 
 regular progreiTion. They are nearly of the fame height, 
 fetting out from the North, as the Baltic and Hudfon's 
 bay ; and they lengthen in America, in proportion as it 
 advances toward the South. This progreffion makes it- 
 felf farther perceptible aloiig the whole length of the Old 
 Continent, as may be feen from the form of its Capes, 
 which, taking the point of departure from the Eaft, length- 
 en fo much the more toward the South, as they advance 
 toward the Weft ; fuch as the Cape of Kamfchatka, iii 
 Afia ; Cape Comorin, in Arabia ; the Cape of Good 
 Hope, in Africa; and, finally, Cape Horn, in America. 
 
 Thefe differences of proportion are to be accounted 
 for from this, that the two terreftrial Hemifpheres are 
 not projefted in the fame manner; for the Old Conti- 
 nent has its greafeft breadth from Eaft t» Weft, and the 
 New has its greater extent from North to South ; and it 
 is manifeft, that this difference of projeftion has been reg- 
 ulated by the Author of Nature, for the fame reafons 
 which induced Him to beftow double parts on animals 
 and on vegetables, in order that, if neceffity required, the 
 one might fupply what was deficient in the other, but 
 principally that fhey might be of mutual affiftance. 
 
 If, for example, there exifted only the Ancient Con- 
 tinent, with the South Sea alone, the motion of that Sea 
 being too much accelerated, under the Line, by the regu- 
 lar v\4nds from the Eaft, would, after having furrounded 
 the Torrid Zone, advance with incredible fury, and attack 
 tremendoufly the Land of Japan : For the fize of the bil- 
 lows of a Sea, is always lu proportion to its extent. But 
 from the difpofition of the two Continents, the billows 
 of the great eaftern Current of the Indian Ocean, arc 
 prartly retarded by th.e archipelagos of the Moluccas an4 
 
 VOL. U. H 
 
^^ A VINDICATION OF 
 
 Philippine Iflands ; they are flill farther broken by othcF 
 iflands, fuch as the Maldivia, by the Capes of Arabia, and 
 by that of Good tlope, which throws them back toward 
 the South. Before they reach Cape Horn, they have tO; 
 encounter new obftacles, from the Current of the South 
 Pole, which then crofTes their courfc, and the change of 
 the monfoon, which totally deflroys the caufe of the com- 
 rnotion at the end of fix months. Thus, there is not a 
 fingle Current, be it eafterly or northerly, which pervades. 
 fo much as a quarter of the Globe, in the fame direftion. 
 Befides, the divifion of the parts of the Globe into two, 
 is fo neceffary to its general harmony, that if the channel 
 of the Atlantic Ocean, which feparates them, had no ex- 
 iftence, or were in part filled up, according to a fuppofition 
 once entertained, by the great ifland Atlantis,* all the ori- 
 ental rivers of America, and all the occidental of Europq 
 would be dried up ; for thofe rivers owe their fupplies 
 only to the clouds which emanate from the Sea. Be- 
 fides, the Sun enlightening, on our fide, only one terref- 
 trial Hemifphere, the mediterraneans of which would dif- 
 appear, muft burn it up with his rays ; and at the fame 
 time, as he warmed, on the other fide, a Hemifphere of 
 water only, moft of the iflands of which would fink of 
 courfe, becaufe the quantity of that Sea mufl be increafed 
 by the fubtraftion of ours, an immenfity of vapour would 
 arife, and go merely to wafte. 
 
 It would appear that, from thefe confi derations. Na- 
 ture has not placed m the Torrid Zone the greateft length 
 of the Continents, but only the mean breadth of America 
 and of Africa, becaufe the aQion of the Sun would there 
 Iiavc been too vehement. She has placed there, on thq 
 conuary, the longcll diameter of the South Sea, and the 
 greateft breadth of the Atlantic O.cean, and there flie has 
 l'.olleaed the greateft quantity of iflands in exiftence. 
 yarthcr, ihc has placed in the breadth of the Continents, 
 
 * A fabulous ifland imagined hy Plcto, \s has been demonftiatcd bj^, 
 r.3ny learned men, all.-orically lo rep;efeir. the Aiheaiaa Government.. ^ 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^^ 
 
 which fhe has there lengthened out, the greateft bodies ot 
 running water that are in the World, all ifluing from 
 mountains of ice ; fuch as the Senegal and the Nile, which 
 iffue from the mountains of the Moon in Africa; the A- 
 mazon and the Oroonoko, which have their fources in 
 the Cordeliers of America. 
 
 Again, it is for this reafon that fhe has multiplied, in 
 the Torrid Zone, and in its vicinity, lofty chains of moun- 
 tains covered with fnow, and that {he direfts thither the 
 winds of the North Pole and of the South Pole, of which 
 the Trade winds always partake. And it is very remark- 
 <ible, that feveral of the great rivers which flow there, are 
 not fituated precifely under the Line, but in regions of 
 the Torrid Zone, which are hotter than the Line itfelfv 
 Thus, the Senegal rolls its ftream in the vicinity of Zara^ 
 t)r the Defert, which, if we may credit the concurring tef- 
 timony of all travellers, is the hotteft part of Africa. 
 
 From all this taken together, we have a glimpfe of the 
 neceflitv of two Continents, to ferve mutually as a check 
 to the movements of the Ocean. It is impoffible to con- 
 ceive how Nature could have difpofed them otherwife, 
 than by extending one of them lengthways, and the other 
 in breadth, in order that the oppofed Currents of their 
 Ocean might balance each other, and that there might 
 ihence refult a harmony, adapted to their fhores, and tQ 
 the iflands contained irl their bafons. 
 
 Were we to fuppofe thefe two Continents projefted 
 t:ircularly, from Eaft to Weft, under the two temperate 
 Zones, the circulation of the Sea contained between the 
 two, would be as we have feen, too violently accelerated 
 hy the conftant aflion of the Eaft wind. There could be 
 no longer any communication by Sea, from the Line to- 
 ward the Poles ; confeqiiently, no icy eff'ufions in that 
 Ocean, no tides, no cooling, and no renovation, of its 
 waters. If we fuppofe, on the contrary, both Ccvntinents 
 extended from North to South, as America is, there woul<i 
 ^^e no longer any oriental Current in tlie Ocean ; the tw<» 
 
6o . A VINDICATION of 
 
 halves of each Sea would meet in the midft of their chart- 
 nel, and their polar effufions would there encounter each 
 other with an impetuofity of commotion, of which the icy 
 effufions precipitated frojn the Alps, with all the dreadful 
 ravages which they commit, convey but a faint idea. But 
 by the alternate and oppofite Currents of the Seas, the icy 
 effufions of f ur Pole proceed, in Summer, to cool Africa, 
 BrafU, and the fouthern parts of Afia, forcing its way be- 
 yond the Cape of Good Hope, by the Monfoon which 
 then carries the Current of the Ocean toward the Eaft; 
 and, during our Winter, the effufions of the Soiuh Pole 
 proceed toward the Weft, to moderate, on the fame fhores, 
 the a6lion oi the Sun, which is there unremitting. By 
 means of thefe two fpiral motions of the Seas, fimilar to 
 thofe of the Sun in the Heavens, there is not a fmgle drop 
 of water but what may make the tour of the Globe, by e- 
 vaporation under the Line, diffolution into rain in the 
 Continent, and congelation under the Pole. Thefe uni- 
 verfal correfpondeneies are fo much the more worthy of 
 being remarked, that they enter into all the plans of Na- 
 ture, and prefent themfelves in the reft of her Works. 
 
 From any other imaginable wrder would refult other in- 
 conveniencies, which I leave the Reader to find out. Hy- 
 pothefes ab abjurdo, arc at once amufing and ufeful ; they 
 change, it is true, natural proportions into caricatures ; but 
 they have this advantage, that, by convincing us of the 
 weaknefs of our own underftanding, they imprefs us with 
 a deep fenfe of the wifdqm of Nature, Let us recolle6l 
 the Socratic method of ratiocination. Do not let us waftc 
 our time in overturning fyfteras which prefent to us plans 
 different from thofe we fee. Let us only deduce cpnfe- 
 quences from them : To admit them is complete refuta« 
 tion. 
 
 . 1 could farther demonftrate, that moft iflands themfelves 
 confjft of double parts, as the Continents, of which, as I 
 have elfe\yhcre fald, they are abridgments, frpm their 
 |!caks, their mountains, their lakes, and tlieir rivers, pror 
 
DIVINE PR0V1D1ENC2. 61 
 
 portioned to their extent. Many of thofe which are fU- 
 uated in the Indian Ocean, have, if I may To exprels. rny- 
 felf, two Hemifpheres, the one oiiental, the atUer occi^ 
 dental, divided by mountains: which go from North to 
 South, fo that when it is Winter on one fide, Summer 
 reigns on the other, and reciprocally ; fuch are the iflan,d{? 
 of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and moft of the Philippines and 
 Moluccas ; fo that they are evidently conftru6ied for the 
 two A4onfoons of the Ocean in which they are placed. 
 
 Did time perniit, the varieties of their conftru8:ion, 
 would furnifh me with many curious remarks, tending to 
 confirm, in particular, what I have faid, in general, ref- 
 pefting the confonances of the Globe. For my own 
 part, I believe thefe principles of order to be fo certain, 
 that I am perfuaded it might be poflible, on feeing the 
 plan of an ifland, with the elevation and the direftion of 
 its mountains, to afcertain its longitude, its latitude, and 
 what are the winds which moft regularly blow there. Na}% 
 I farther believe, that with thefe iafk given, we might, 
 vice vsr/iz, trace the plan and fliape of an ifland, fituated 
 in whatever part of the Ocean. From this, however, I 
 except fluviatic iflands, and fuch as, being too fmall of 
 themfelves, are coliefted into archipelagos, as the Maldi- 
 vias ; becaufe fuch iflands have not the centre of all their 
 adaptations in themfelves, but are fubordinated to the, ad- 
 joining rivers, ai'chipelagos, and continents. - f 
 
 It is indubitably .certain that I advance no paradox, 
 when 1 compare, between the Tropics, the general form 
 •of tlie iflands which are expofed to the two Monfoons, 
 and that of the iflands which are under the regular Eaft 
 wind. We have juft obferved, that Nature had given, in 
 a certain fenfe, two Hemifpheres to the finf, in dividing 
 them through the middle by a chain of mountains running 
 North and South, in order that they might receive the al- 
 ternate influences of the Eaft and Weft winds, which 
 i)low there, by turns, fix months of the year; but in the 
 iflands fituated in the South Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, 
 
6ft A VINDICATION op 
 
 where the Eaft wind blo^vs inceJGTantly from the fame quar=» 
 ter, fhe has placed the mountains at the extremity of the 
 Land, in the part moft remote from the wind, that the 
 brooks and rivers formed from the clouds, which are ac- 
 cumulated by that wind on their peaks, may flow through 
 the whole extent of thefe ifles. 
 
 I am fenfible that I have elfewhere related thefe lafl 
 obfervations, but I here prefent them in a new light. Be- 
 lides, fhould I fometimes fall into repetition, there can be 
 no great harm in repeating new truths, and fome indul- 
 gence is due to the weaknefs of him who announces them. 
 
 OF PROGRESSION. 
 
 Progreflion is a feries of confonances, afcending or de- 
 fcending. Wherever we meet progrelTion, it produces 
 'cxquifite pleafure, becaufe it excites in our foul the fen- 
 timent of infinity^ fo conformable to our nature. I have 
 already faid, and it cannot be repeated too frequently: 
 Phyfical fenfations delight us only in fo far as they awaken 
 ^n intelleftual fentiment. 
 
 When the leaves of a vegetable are arranged round its 
 branches, in the fame order that the branches themfelves 
 >Rre round the ftem, there is confonancy, as in pines ; but 
 if the branches of that vegetable are farther difpofed a- 
 mong themfelves, on fimilar plans, which go on diminifh- 
 ing in magnitude, as in the pyramidical form of firs> 
 there is progreflion ; and if thefe trees are themfelves dif- 
 pofed in long avenues, decrcafing in height and in colour- 
 ing, like their particular mafs, our pleafure is heightened^ 
 becaufe the progrelhon becomes infinite. 
 
 From this inflinft of infinity it is that we take pleafure 
 in viewing every objeft which prefents us with a progref- 
 fion ; as nurfery grounds, containing plants ot diflerem 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 6.^ 
 
 ages, hills flying ofF to the Horizon in fucceffive elevations, 
 perfpeftives without a termination. 
 
 Montefqiaeu has, nevertheiefs, remarked that, if the 
 road from Peteriburg to Mofcow is in a ftraight line, the 
 traveller muft die upon it with languor. I have perform- 
 ed that journey, and can confidently affirm, from perfonal 
 knowledge, that the road is very far from being in a 
 ftraight line. But admitting it to be fo, the languor of 
 the traveller would arife from the very fentiment of in- 
 finity, joined to the idea of fatigue. It is this fame fen- 
 timent, fo delicious when it blends with our pleafures, 
 which overwhelms us with anguifh unutterable when con- 
 nefted with calamity ; as we but too frequently experience. 
 However, I believe that we ftiould fink, at length, under 
 the weight of an unbounded perfpeftive, from its prefent- 
 ing infinity to us, always in the fame manner ; for our 
 foul has not only the inftinft of it, but likewife that of 
 univerfality, that is, of every polTible modification of in- 
 finity. 
 
 Nature has not formed, after our limited manner, per- 
 fpeftives with one or two confonances ; but fhe compofes 
 them of a multitude of diflerent progreffions, by introduc- 
 ing that of plans, magnitudes, forms, colours, move- 
 ments, ages, kinds, groups, feafons, latitudes, and combine 
 ing with thefe an infinity of confonances, deduced from 
 reflexes of light, of waters, of founds. 
 
 Let me fuppofe that fhe had been limited to the plan- 
 tation of an avenue from Paris to Madrid, with one fingle 
 genus of trees, fay the fig ; I do not apprehend 1 fhould 
 tire on performing that journey. I fhould fee upon it 
 one fpecies ot the fig tree bearing the fruit called by the 
 Latins mamillana,^ becaufe it had a refemblance to a wo- 
 man's breafl, in Latin inamilla : Another fpecies, with 
 figs quite red, and not bigger than an olive, fuch as tliofe 
 of Mount Ida; another with white fruit; with blacky 
 
6i|> A VINDICATION of 
 
 ofth;i coldiir of porphyry, and thence called^ l>y the An- 
 cients, porphyritcc. In thfe courfe df this track would 
 likewifo occur the fig tree of Hyrcania, loaded with more 
 than two hundred bufhels of fruit \ the runiinal fig tree, 
 the fpecies under the fiiade of which Romulus and Remus 
 were ftickled by ^ flie wolf; the fig tree of IUycuUs ; in 
 ^ word, the nineteen fpCcies enumerated by Pliny ^ and a 
 great variety of others, unknown to the Romans ahd to 
 lis. Each of thefe fpecies df trees would exhibit vcgcta-: 
 bles of various magnitude; young, old, lulitary, in cluf- 
 ters; fome planted by the brink of tivulets, fome ifTuing 
 from the clefts of rocks. Each tree would prefent the 
 farhe variety in its fruits ex-pofed, oii one fingle footj if 
 1 may ufe the expreflion, to different Latitudes, to the 
 South, {g the Norths to the Eaft, to the Weft, to the Sun, 
 and under fhade of the leaves : Some of them would be 
 greeii, and juil beginning to fhoot, others violet, and 
 cracked, their crevices ftored with honey. On the ottier 
 hand, we Ihould find fome, under different Latitudes, in 
 the fanie degree of maturity^ as if they hung upon the 
 fame tree, thofe which grow to the North beings in the 
 bottohi of valleys, fometimes as forward as thofe whicli, 
 though much farther to the South, ripen more flowly, 
 from their fituation on the tops of mountains. 
 
 Thefe progrefiions are to be found in the minutefl of 
 the works of Nature, and of which they conflitute the 
 principal charm. They are not the effe^l of any mechan- 
 ical Law. They have been apj)ortioned to each vegeta- 
 ble, for the purpofe of prolonging the enjoyment of its 
 fruit, conformably to the wants of Man. Thus the aque- 
 ous and cooling fruits, fuch as thofe of a ruddy hue, ap, 
 pear ohly during the feafon of heat ; others, which were 
 heceffary in the Winter time, from their nutrimcntal 
 flours, and their oils, as chefuuts and walnuts, are capable 
 wpf being preferved a confiderable part of the year. But 
 thofe which are dcfigned to fupply the accidental dc- 
 Inlands of M^nUind, thofe of travellers and navigators, iov 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 6^ 
 
 ihilartce, remain on the earth at all times. Not only are 
 thefe laft inclofed in fliells, adapted to their prefervation, 
 but they appear upon the tree, at all feafons, and in every' 
 degree of maturity. In tropical countries, on the unin- 
 habited ftiores of the iflands,* the cocoa tree bears, at 
 once, twelve or fifteen clufters of cocoa nuts, fome of 
 which are ftill in the bud; others are in flower; oth- 
 ers are knit; others are already full of milk ; and, finally, 
 fome are in a flate of perfeft maturity. The cocoa is the 
 feaman's tree. 
 
 It is riot the heat of the Tropics which gives to this 
 tree a fecundity fo conftant, and fo varied; for the fruits 
 of the trees have, in the Indies, as in our climates, feafons 
 of ripening, and after which they are feen no more till the 
 feafort returns, I know of no other, except the cocoa 
 tree and the banana, which are in fruit all the year round. 
 This laft mentioned plant is, in my opinion the moft ufe- 
 ftil in the World, becaufe its fruit makes excellent food, 
 without any art of cookery, having a moft agreeable fla- 
 vour, and pofleflTmg very nutrlmental qualities. It pro- 
 duces a clufter, or aggregation, of fixty or fourfcore fruit, 
 which come to maturity all at once ; but it puflies out 
 fhoots of every degree of magnitude, which bear in fuc- 
 ceflion, and at all times. The progrefTion of fruits in the 
 cocoa, is in the tree, and that oi the fruits of the banana 
 is in the plantation. Univerfally, that which is moft ufe- 
 ful, is likewife moft common. 
 
 The produ6lions of our cornfields and vineyards pre- 
 fent difpofitions ftill more wonderful ; for, though the ear 
 of corn has feveral faces, its grains come to maturity at 
 the fame time, from the mobility of its ftraw, which pre- 
 fents them to all the afpefts of the Sun. The vine does 
 not grow in form of a bufti', nor' of a tree ; but in hedge 
 rows ; and though its berries be arranged in form of cluf- 
 ters, their tfanfparency renders them throughout penetra- 
 
 * Sec Francis Pyrard's^Voyi^c l« the Maldlvias. 
 VOL* II. I 
 
66 A VINDICATION o? 
 
 ble by the rays of the Sun. Nature thus lays men under 
 the neceflity, from the fpontaneous maturity of thefe fruits, 
 deftined to the general fupport of human life, to unite 
 their labours, and mutually alTiil each other in the pleaf- 
 ant toils of the harveft and the vintage. The cornfield 
 and the vineyard may be confidered as the mod powerful 
 cements of focicty. Bacchus and CereSy accordingly, were 
 regarded, in ancient times, as the firft Legiflators of the 
 Human Race. The Poets of antiquity frequently diftin- 
 guifh them by this honourable appellation. An Indian, 
 under his banaaa and his cocoa tree, can do extremely 
 well without his neighbour. It is for this reafon, I be- 
 lieve, rather than from the nature of the climate, which is 
 there fo mild, that there are fo few republics in India, and 
 fo many governments founded in force. One man can 
 there make an imprefli on on the field of another, only by 
 the ravages which lie commits : But the European, who 
 fees his harveft grow yellow, and his grapes blacken all 
 at once, haftens to furamon to his afliftance, in reaping 
 his crop, not only his neighbours, but the traveller who 
 happens to be pafTmg that way. Befides, Nature, while 
 fhe has refufed to the corn plant and the vine the power 
 of yielding their fruits at all feafons of the year, has- be- 
 llowed on the flour of the one, and the wine of the other, 
 the quality of being prefervable for ages. 
 
 All the Laws of Nature have a refpeft to our neceffi- 
 ties ; not only thofe which are evidently contrived to 
 miniftcr to our comfort ; but others frequently concur to 
 this end fo much the better, the more that they feem to 
 deviate from it. 
 
 OF CONTRASTS. 
 
 Contralts differ from contraries in this, that contra- 
 ries a6]; but in one fingle point, and contrafts in their gen- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 67 
 
 €ral combination. An obje6l has but one contrary, but 
 it may have many contrafts. White is the contrary of 
 black; but it-contrafts with- blue, green, red, and various 
 other colours. 
 
 Nature, in order to diftinguifli the harmonies, the con- 
 fonances, and the progreflions of bodies, from each other, 
 makes them exhibit contrails. This Law is fo much the 
 ^efs obferved, the more common it is. We trample under 
 foot truths the molt wonderful, and of the higheft impor- 
 tance, without paying the flighteft attention to them. 
 
 All Naturalifts confider the colours of bodies as'fim- 
 ple accidents ; and moft of them look on their very 
 forms as the effeft of fome attraftion, incubation, cryftal- 
 lization, &c. Books are every day compofed, the object 
 of which is to extend, by analogies, the mechanical cfFefts 
 of thofe Laws to the different produftions of Nature ; but 
 if they really poffefs fo much power, How comes it that 
 the Sun, that univerfal agent, has not long ere now filled 
 the waters, the dry land, the forefts, the heavens, the plains, 
 and all the creatures over which he exercifes fo much in- 
 fluence, with the uniform and monotonous effefts of his 
 light ? All thefe objefls ought to affume his appearance, 
 and prefent only white or yellow to our eyes, and be dif- 
 tinguifhed from each other only by their fhades. A land- 
 fcape ought to exhibit to us no other effects but thofe of 
 a cameo, or of a print. Latitudes, we are told, diverfify 
 the colour of them. But if Latitudes have this power, 
 How comes it to pafs, that the produ61:ions of the fame 
 climate, and of the fame field, have not all the fame tints ? 
 Whence is it that the quadrupeds, which are born and 
 die in the meadow, do not produce young ones green as 
 the grafs on which they feed ? 
 
 Nature has not fatisfied herfelf with eftablifhing partic- 
 ular harmonies in every fpecies of beings, in order to char- 
 acterize them ; but that they might not be confounded a- 
 mong themfelves, flie exhibits them in contrafts. Vv'e 
 (liall fee, in the following Study, for what particular rea- 
 
M A VINDICATION Of 
 
 fon fhe has bellowed upon herbs a green hue, in preler- 
 cnce to every other colour. In general fhe has made 
 herbs green, to detach them from the earth ; an4 then fhe 
 has given the colour of the earth to animals which live on 
 herbage, to diftinguifli them, in their turn, from the 
 ground over which they flray. This general contrail 
 may be remarked in the herbivorous quadrupeds, fuch as 
 the domeftic animals, the yellow beafts of the forefts and 
 in all the granivorous birds, which live among herbage, 
 or in the foliage of trees, as the hen, the partridge, the 
 quail, the lark, the fparrow, and many others, which are 
 of earthy colours, becaufe they live among verdure. But 
 thofe, on the contrary, who live on dingy grounds are clad 
 in brilliant colours, as the bluifh tomtit, and the wood- 
 pecker, which fcramble along the rind of trees in purfuit 
 of infe6ls, and many others. 
 
 Nature univerfally oppofes the colour of the animal ta 
 that of the ground on which it is deftined to live. Thi^ 
 mofl admirable Law admits not of a fingle exception. I 
 fhall here produce a few examples of it, to put my Readet^ 
 in the way of obferving thofe delightful harmonies, of 
 which he will find abundant proofs in every climate. 
 There is feen, on the Ihores of India, a large and beauti- 
 ful bird, white and fire coloured, called the JlamingOy not 
 that it is of FlemiJJi extra6lion, but the name is derived 
 from the old French word Jlamhant^ (flaming) becaufe it 
 appears, at a diftance, like a flame of fire. He generally 
 inhabits in fwampy grounds, and fait marfhes, in the wa- 
 ters of which he conllru6ls his neft, by raifing out of the 
 moifture, of a foot deep, a little hillock of mud a foot 
 and a half high. He makes a hole in the fummit of this 
 little hillock ; in this the hen depofits two eggs, and 
 hatches them, with her feet funk in the water, by means 
 of the extreme length of her legs. When feveral of thcfe 
 birds are fitting at the fame time on their eggs, in the 
 snidft of a fwamp, you would take them, at a difl:ance, far 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^^ 
 
 this iflames of a conflagration, burfting from the bQloim ©f 
 lihe waters. 
 
 Other fowls prefent contrails of a different kirnl on the 
 fame fhores. The pelican, or wide throat, is a bird white 
 and brown, , provided with a large bag under its beak, 
 f^vhich is of exce(Eve length. 0,ut ^^e goes every morn- 
 ing to ftore his bag v*rith fifh : And, the fupply of tli€ day 
 jiaving been accompliflied, lie perches on fome pointed 
 f oek, on a level with the water, where he ftands imn^ove- 
 ^ble till the evening, fays Father Du Tertre^* *' as in a 
 *' flate of profound forrow, with the head drooping, from 
 ^* the weight of his Ipng bill, and eyes fixed on the. agi- 
 •* tated Ocean, as motionlefsas a ftatue of marble." On 
 the dufky flrand of thofe feas may frequently be diflin^ 
 guilhed herons whitp as fnow, and in the azure plains of 
 the fky, the paillencu of a filvery white, fkimniing through 
 it alraoft out of fight : He is fometimes glazed over with 
 a h-right red, having li-kewife the two long feathers of his 
 tail the colour of fire, as that of the South Seas. 
 
 In many cafes, the deeper that the ground is, the more 
 brilliant are the c-olours in which the animal, defdned to 
 live upon it, is arrayed. We have not, perhaps, in Europe 
 any infe6l with richer and gayer clothing than the fterco- 
 raceous fcarab, and th|Q fly which bears the fame epithet. 
 This laft is brighter than burnifhed gold and ^q.^\-:^ the 
 other of a hemifpherical form, is of a fine blue, incliniiio^ 
 to purple : And in order to render the contrafl complete, 
 he exhales a ffrong and agreeable odour of mufk. 
 
 Nature feems, fometimes, to deviate from this Law, but 
 then it is from other realons of conformity, according- to 
 which all her plans-are adjufted. Thus, after having con- 
 trafled, with the ground on which they live, the animals 
 capable of making their efcdpe from every danger by their 
 llrength, or their agility, fhe has confounded thofe whofe 
 flpwncfs, or weaknefs, wovtld expofc them to the aiTaiilt5^ 
 
 * JIifi.9rv of {he Anbi]ts< 
 
7d • A VINDICATION of 
 
 of their enemies. The fnail, which is deftitute of fight, is 
 of the colour of the bark of the trees which he gnaws, or 
 of the wall in which he takes refuge. 
 
 Flat fifhes which are indifferent fwimmers, fuch as the 
 turbot, the flounder, the plaice, the hurt, the fole, and fev- 
 eral others, which are cut out, as it were, from a thin 
 plank, becaufe they were deftined to a fedentary life, clofe 
 to the bottom of the Sea, are of the ,colour of the fands 
 where they find their nourifhment, being fpbtted, like the 
 beach, with gray, yellow, black, red and brown. They 
 are thus fpeckled, I admit, only on one fide ; but to fuch 
 a degree are they poflelTed of the feeling of this refeni- 
 blance, that when they find themfelves inclofed within the 
 parks formed on the ilrand to entrap them., and obferving 
 the tide gradually retiring, they bury their fins in the fand, 
 expe6ling the return of the tide, and prefent lo the eye on- 
 ly their deceitful fide. It has fuch a perfe£f refemblance 
 to the ground on which they fquat, to conceal themfelves, 
 that it would be impoflfible for the fifhermen todiftinguifli 
 them from it, without the help of fickles, with which they 
 trace fmali fofFes, in every direftion, along the furface of 
 the fand, to dete61: by the touch what the eye could not 
 difcern. Of this 1 have been a witnefs oftener than once, 
 much more highly amufed at the dexterity difplayed by 
 the fifiies, than at that of the fifliermen. 
 
 The thornback, on the contrary, which is alfo a flat 
 fifh, and a bad fwimmer, but carnivorous, is marbled with 
 white and brown, in order to be perceived at a difl;ance 
 by other fiflies ^ and to prevent their being devoured, in 
 their turn, bv their enemies, which are very alert, fuch as 
 the fea doo-, or by their own companions, for they are ex- 
 tremely voracious. Nature has clad them in a prickly 
 • mail, particularly on the pofterior part of the body, as the 
 tail, which is moll expofed to attack when they fly. 
 
 Nature has bellowed at once, in the colours ot innox- 
 ious animals, contrafts with the ground on which they 
 live, and confonances with that which is adjacent, and has. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. jk 
 
 fuperadded the inftinfl: of employing thefe alternately, ac- 
 cording as good or bad foftune prompts. Thefe wonder- 
 ful accommodations may be remarked in moft of our 
 fmali birds, whofe flight is feeble, and of (hort duration. 
 Tht gray lark finds her fubfiftence among the grafs of 
 the plains ? Does any thing terrify her ? She glides away, 
 and takes her flation between two little clods of earth, 
 where fhe becomes invifible. On this pofl fhe remains 
 in fuch perfeft tranquillity, as hardly to quit it when the 
 foot of the fowler is ready to crufh her. 
 
 The fame thing is true of the partridge. I have no 
 doubt that thefe defencelefs birds have a fenfe of thofe 
 contrails and correfpondencies of colour, for I have re- 
 marked it even in infers. In the month of March laft, 
 I obferved, by the brink of the rivulet which wafhes the 
 Gobelins,* a butterfly of the colour of brick, repofmg 
 with expanded wings on a tuft of grafs. On my ap- 
 proaching him, he flew off. He alighted, at fome paces 
 diflance, on the ground, which, at that place, was of the 
 fame colour with himfelf. I approached him a fecond 
 time ; he took a fecond flight, and perched again on a 
 fimilar ftripe of earth. In a word, I found it was not in 
 my power to oblige him to alight on the grafs, though 1 
 made frequent attempts to that eETeft, and though the 
 fpaces of earth which feparated the turfy foil were narrow, 
 and few in number. 
 
 This wonderful inftinft is, likewife, confpicuoufly ev- 
 ident in the cameleon. This fpecies of lizard, whofc 
 motion is extremely flow, is indemnified for this, by the 
 incomprehenfible faculty of affuming, at pleafure, the col- 
 our of the ground over which he moves. With this ad- 
 vantage, he is enabled to elude the eye of his purfuer, 
 whofe fpeed would foon have overtaken him. This fac- 
 ulty is in his will, for his fkin is by no means a mirror. 
 
 * A fmall village in the fuburbs of Paris, noted for its manufaftures in 
 fine tapeftryj and fuperb wirrois. H. H. 
 
5* A VINDIGATION OF 
 
 It refleQs only the colour of obje6ls, and not their iorrhi 
 Wliatis farther fingularly remarkable in this, and perfe6^- 
 ]y afcertained by Naturalifts, though they aflign no rea* 
 fonfbr it, he can afTume all colours^ as brown, gray, yeli- 
 low, and efpecially green, which is- his favourite colour, 
 but' never red. The cameleon has been placed, for weeks* 
 together, amidft fcarlet ftuffs, without acquiring the fl!ght- 
 efl- (hade of that colour. Nature feems to have withheld' 
 from the creature this Ihining hue, becaufe it could ferve' 
 only to render him perceptible at a greater diftance ; and, 
 farther, becaufe this colour is that of the ground of no 
 fpecies of earth, or of vegetable, on which he is defigned' 
 to pafs his life. 
 
 But, in the age of weaknefs and inexperience, Nature' 
 confounds the colour of the harmlefs animals, with that 
 of the ground on which they inhabit, without commit- 
 ting to them the power of choice. The young of pig- 
 eoiTS, and of moft granivorous fowls, are clothed with a- 
 greenilh ftaggy coat, refembling the mofles of their nefts. 
 Caterpillars are blind, and have the. complexion of the 
 foliage, and of the barks, which they devour. Nay, the: 
 young fruits, before they come to be armed with prickles, 
 or inclofed in cafes, in bitter pulps, in hard fhells, to pro- 
 teft'their feeds, are, during the feafbn' of their expanfron; 
 gicen as the leaves which fiirround' them. Some embryo 
 ons, it is true, fuch as thofe of certain pears, are ruddy or 
 b-rown ; but they are then of the colour of the bark of 
 the tree to which they belong. When thofe fruits have 
 inclofed their feeds in kernels ornuts^ fb as to be irt no 
 farther danger, they then change colour. They bectniie;- 
 vellow, blue, gold coloured, red, black, and give to theii* 
 jefpeftive trees their natural contrails. It is ftrikingly 
 remarkable, that every fruit which has changed colour 
 has feed in a flateof maturity. 
 
 The infects, in like manner, having depofited their 
 robes of infancy, and now committed to their own expe- 
 rience, fprcad abroad over the World, to multiply the^ 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^g 
 
 Wrmonies of it, with the attire and the inftlnfts which 
 Nature has conferred upon them. Then it is that clouds 
 of butterflies, which, in their caterpillar ftate, were con- 
 founded with the verdure of plants, now oppofe the col- 
 ours and the forms of their wings, to thofe of the flowers ; 
 the red to the blue, the white to the red, the aniennce to 
 the Jiamina^ and fringes to the corolla, I was one day 
 ftruck with admiration at one of thefe, whofe wings were 
 azure, and befprinkled with fpecks of the colour of Auro- 
 ra, as he repofed in the bofom of a full blown rofe. He 
 feemed to be difputing beauty with the flower. It would 
 have been difficult to determine which way to adjudge the 
 prize, in favour of the butterfly or of the rofe ; but, on 
 feeing the flower crowned with wings of lapis lazuli, and 
 the azure infeft depofited in a goblet of carmine, it was 
 obvious, on the fllghtefl: glance, that their charming con- 
 trail greatly enhanced their mutual beauty* 
 
 Nature does not employ thofe agreeable correfponden- 
 cies and contrafl:s in the decoration of noxious animals, 
 nor even of dangerous vegetables. Of whatever kind the 
 carnivorous, or venemous animals, may be, they form, at 
 every age, and wherever they are, oppofitions harffi and 
 dirgufl:ing. The white bear of the North announces his 
 approach over the fnow, by a hollow noife, by the black- 
 nefs of his fnout and paws, and by a throat and eyes the 
 colour of blood. The ferocious beafts, which hunt for 
 their prey in the gloom of darknefs, or in the folitude of 
 the forefts, give notice of their prefence by loud roarings, 
 lamentable cries, eyes inflamed, urinous or fetid fmells. 
 The crocodile, in ambuih among the flags, upon the fliores 
 of the rivers in Afia, where he affumes the appearance of 
 the trunk of a tree turned upfide down, betrays himfelf 
 from afar, by fl:rong exhalations of the fmell of muflc. 
 The rattlefnake, concealed in the grafly fwamps of Amer- 
 ica, cannot ftir without founding his ominous alarm. The 
 very infefts which make war on others, are clad in fable 
 attire, in which colours are karflily oppofed, and in whirls 
 
 VOL. II. K 
 
^4 A VINDfCATION ot 
 
 black, particularly, predominates, and clafhes difagreeabJ^r 
 with white, or yellow. The bumblebee, independently 
 of his buzzing noife, announces himfelf by the blacknefs 
 oi his breaftplate, and his large belly briftled over with 
 yellow hairs. He appears amidft the flowers, like a burn- 
 ing coal half extinguifhed. The carnivorous wafp is yel- 
 low, and ftriped with black, like the tiger. But the ufe- 
 ful bee is of the complexion of the flamina and of the 
 calices of the flowers, among which fhe reaps her inno- 
 cent harvefts. 
 
 Poifonous plants prefent, like noxious animals, dif- 
 gufting contrafts, from the livid colours of their flowers, 
 in which black, deep blue, and a fmoky violet, are in harfli 
 oppofition with the tender fliades; from their naufeous and 
 virulent fmells ; from their prickly foliage, of a black 
 green hue, and clafliing with white on the under fide : 
 Such are the aconite tribes. I am acquainted with no 
 plant of an afpeft fo hideous as thofe of this family, and, 
 among others, that which the French denominate napel 
 the mofl; venemous vegetable of our climates. I fliall not 
 take upon me to determine, whether the embryons of their 
 fruits do not difclofe, from the very firft moments of their 
 expanfion, harfli oppofitions, which give warning of their 
 malefic charafters : If it be fo, they have this farther re- 
 femblance in common to them with the young of ferocious 
 animals. 
 
 Such of the brute creation as are intended to live on 
 two different grounds, are imprefled with a double con- 
 trafl: in their colours. Thus, for example, the kingfiflier, 
 which flcims along rivers, is at once muflc coloured, and 
 glazed over with azure ; fo as to be detached from the 
 duflcy fliores by his azure colour, and from the azure of 
 the waters by his muflc colour. The duck, which dabbles 
 on the fame fliores, has the body tinged of an afli colour, 
 while the head and neck are of an emerald green ; fo that 
 he is perfeftly diftinguifliablc, by the gray colour of his 
 body, from the verdure of the aquatic plants among which 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 75 
 
 fee waddles, and by the verdure of his head and neck, 
 from the dark coloured mud where he finds part of his 
 food, and in which, by another moll aftonilhing contrail, 
 he never foils his plumage. 
 
 The fame contrails of colour are obfervable in the 
 woodpecker, who lives on the trunks of trees, along which 
 he fcrambles in quell of the infe£ls that are lodged under 
 their rind. This bird is at once green coloured and 
 brown ; fo that, though he lives, properly fpeaking, in 
 the fhade, he is always perceptible, however, on the trunk 
 of trees ; for he detaches himfelf from their dulky rind, 
 by means of that part of his plumage which is of a bril- 
 liant green, and from the verdure of their molTes and li- 
 chens, by thofe of his feathers, which are brown. 
 
 Nature oppofes, then, the colours of every animal to 
 thofe of the refpe6live ground on which it is to be placed ; 
 and what confirms the truth of this Law is, that the great- 
 eft part of birds which live on one ground only, have but 
 a fingle colour, and that one ftrongly contrafted with the 
 colour of the ground. Accordingly, the birds which 
 live aloft in the air, on the azury ground of the Heavens, 
 or on the bofom of the waters, in the midft of lakes, are 
 moftly white, which, of all colours, forms the moll ftrik- 
 ing contraft with blue, and is, confequently, moft adapted 
 to render them perceptible at a diftance. Such are, be- 
 tween the Tropics, the paillencu, a bird of a glofly white, 
 whofe flight is through the fuperior regions of the air, 
 the heron, the gull,' the feamew, which Ikim along the 
 furface of the azure deep, and the fwan, fleets of which 
 navigate the extenfive lakes of the North. 
 
 There are likewife others which, in order to form a 
 contraft with thofe that 1 have laft mentioned, detach 
 themfelves from the Ikies and from the waters, by their 
 black, or dulky colours : Such are, for example, the crow, 
 in our own climates, which is perceptible at fo great a dif- 
 tance in the Heavens, on the white ground of the clouds ; 
 liiany fea fowls of ^ brown ^d blackifti colour, as the tri- 
 
^e A VINDICATION OF 
 
 gat of the Tropics, which plays through the air, amictll 
 ftorm and temped ; the mower, or feacutter, a water bird, 
 which grazes with his dark coloured wings, fliaped like a. 
 fey the, the white furface of the foamy billows of the Ocean- 
 From thefe examples, therefore, it maybe inferred, that 
 when an animal is invefled with but one fmgle tint, he is 
 intended but for one fituation ; and when he combines in 
 himfelf the contrail of two oppofite tints, that he lives on 
 two grounds, the colours themfelves of which are deter- 
 mined by that of the plumage, or of the hair, of the ani- 
 mal. We muff be upon our guard, at the fame time, a- 
 gainft an unlimited generalization of this Law. We 
 ought to confider it as harmonizing with the exceptions 
 which wife Nature has introduced and eftablifhed, for the 
 very prefervation of animals ; fuch as, in general, the 
 whitening of them, to the North, in the Winter feafon, 
 and on lofty mountains, as a remedy againft excefs of 
 cold, by arraying them in a colour which reflefts the moft 
 heat ; and embrowning them to the South, during the ar- 
 dors of Summer, and on fandy diftri6ls,and thereby fhelter- 
 ing them from the effefts of burning heat, by the interven- 
 tion of abforbent colours. What evidently demonftrates, 
 that thefe great effefts of harmony are not mechanical 
 refults oi the influence of the bodies which furround ani- 
 mals, or of the apprehenfions of the mother on the tender 
 organs of the foetus, or of the aftion of the rays of the Sun 
 on their plumage, according to the explications hitherto 
 attempted by our fyflcms of phyfics ; what evidently de- 
 monftrates this, I fay, is, that among the almoft infinite 
 nuir.ber of birds which pafs their life in the higher region}* 
 of the air, or on the furface of the Seas, whofe colours are 
 azure, there is not a fingle bird of the colour of blue ; 
 and that, on the contrary, many birds which live between 
 the Tropics, in the bofom of black rocks, or under the 
 ihade of fullen forefts, are azure coloured : Such are the 
 Batavia hen, which is blue all over ; the Dutch pigeon 
 ef the Ifle of France, and many others. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. jf 
 
 Another confequence, equally important, may be <le^ 
 duced from thefe obfervations ; it is this, that all thefe 
 harmonies are contrived for the ufe of Man. A blue col- 
 oured fowl, on the azure ground of the fky, or on 
 the furface of the waters, would elude our fight. Na- 
 ture, befides, has referved the rich and agreeable col- 
 ours only for the birds which live in our vicinity. This 
 is fo indubitably certain, that though the Sun afts be- 
 tween the Tropics with the whole energy of his rays, 
 on the fowls whofe refidence is the wide Ocean, there is 
 not a fmgle one of them arrayed in a beautifully coloured 
 plumage, whereas thofe which inhabit the Ihores «f the 
 Seas, and of the rivers, are frequently drelFed in the moil 
 gorgeous attire. The flamingo, a tall bird, which lives in 
 the fwampy fhores of the South Seas, has a white plum- 
 age charged with carmine. The toucan, on the fame 
 ftrands, has an enormous bill of the moft lively red ; and 
 when he retires from thcbofom of the humid fands, where 
 he finds his food, you would be tempted to fay, that he 
 has juft fifhed out of them a flump of coral. There is 
 another fpecies of toucan, whofe beak is white and black, 
 as finely polifhed as if it confifled of ebon and ivory. 
 The pintada, with fpeckled plumage, the peacock, the 
 duck, the kingfifher, and a multitude of other river birds, 
 embellifh, by the enamel of their colours, the banks of the 
 Afiatic and African flreams. But we find nothing once 
 to be compared with them, in the plumage of fuch as in- 
 habit the open Sea, though they are flill more expofed to 
 the influences of the Sun. 
 
 As a farther confequence of thefe correfpondencies 
 with Man, Nature has given to the birds which live re- 
 mote from him, cries fhrill, hoarfe and piercing, but 
 which are as proper as their ill afforted colours, to render 
 them perceptible at a diftance, amidft their ^v•ild retreats. 
 She has beflowed, on the contrary, fweet notes and melou. 
 dipus voices on the little birds which people our groves, 
 
ft A VINDICATION OF 
 
 and domeflicate themfelves in our habitations, in order 
 to heighten our delight, as well by the mufic of their 
 warbling as by the beauty of their colours. We repeat 
 it, in order to confirm the truth of the principles of the 
 Jiarmonies which we are laying down : Nature has eftab- 
 lifhed an order of beauty fo real, in the plumage and the 
 fong of birds, that (he has endowed with thefe fuch birds 
 only, whofe life was in fome fort innocent relatively to 
 Man, as thofe which are granivorous, or which live on 
 infe8:s ; and fhe has denied thofe advantages to birds of 
 prey, and to moll fea fowls, which in general, have earthy 
 colours, and difagreeable cries. 
 
 All the kingdoms of Nature prefent themfelves to Man 
 with the fame correfpondencies, the abyfles of the Ocean 
 themfelves not excepted. The fifties which live on ani- 
 mal fubftances, as the whole clafs of the cartilaginous do, 
 fuch as the feai, the fea dog, the fliark, the flipper, the 
 thornback, the polypus, and many others, have difgufting 
 forms and colours. Fiflies which live in the open fea, 
 have colours marbled with white, black, brown, which 
 diftinguifh them in the bofom of the azure billows, fuch 
 ^re whales, blowers, porpoifes, and others. But it is a- 
 mong thofe which frequent the dufky ftiores, and particu- 
 larly in the number of fuch as are denominated Jaxatile, 
 tecaufe they live among the rocks, that we find the fifties, 
 the luftre of whofe (kin and fcales far furpafl*es all the 
 efforts of the pencil, efpecially when they are alive. It 
 is thus that legions of mackarel and herrings diffufe the 
 radiance of* filver and azure over the northern ftrands of 
 Europe. 
 
 It is around the black rocks which bound the Seas of 
 the Tropics, that the fifti known by the name of captain 
 is caught. Though his colours vary with the latitude, it 
 i« fuflf^cient, in order to convey an idea of his beauty, to 
 Retail the defcription given of it by Francis Cauche^* in a, 
 
 * Confult Frauds Cauche^ hia relation of Madagafcar.. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 7^ 
 
 fpecies caught on the coafts of Madagafcar. He fays, 
 that this fifti, which takes pleafure in the locks, is ftreak- 
 ed in the form of lozenges ; that his fcales are of a pale 
 gold colour, and that his back is coloured and glazed over 
 with laca, inclining, in feveral places, toward vermilion. 
 His dorfal fin and tail are waved with azure, fading away 
 into green toward the extremities. 
 
 About the bottom of the fame rocks is likewife found 
 the magnificent fifh called the far din, and by the Brafil* 
 ians acara pinima, of which Marcgrave has given the fig- 
 ure in his 4th Book, Chap. 6. This beautiful fifh is a- 
 domed with fcales of at once a gold and filver hue, crofled 
 from head to tail by black lines, which admirably height- 
 en their luftre. The fame Author defcribes a variety of 
 fpecies of the moon fifh, befides, which frequent the 
 fame places. 
 
 For my own part, I have amufed myfelf on the rocks of 
 the Ifland of Afcenfion, in obferving, for hours together, 
 the moon fifh fporting amidfl the tumultuous waves, which 
 are incefTantly breaking upon them. Thefe fifhes, of which 
 there are various fpecies, have the rounded, and fome- 
 times floping form of the orb of night, whofe name they 
 bear. They are, befides, like her, of the colour of polifh- 
 ed filver. They feem deftined to elude the fagacity of the 
 fifherman, in every poffible way ; for they have their bel- 
 ly ftreaked with black crofs flripes, of a lozenge form, 
 which gives them all- the appearance of being caught in a 
 net ; they feem, every inflant, on the point of being toff- 
 ed on fhore, by the agitation of the billows in which they 
 play ; farther, their mouth is fo fmall, that they frequent- 
 ly nibble away the bait without touching the hook ; and 
 their fkin, without fcales, like that of the feal, is fo hard, 
 that the harpoon often mifTes its blow, be the prongs ever 
 fo keenly jvhetted. Francis C^wcA^ likewife fays, that it 
 requires a very violent exertion to make an incifion int« 
 their fkin with the fharpefl knife. 
 
to A VINDICATION of 
 
 It Is on the fame fliores of Afcenfion Ifland that we fine! 
 the miirena, a fpecies of lamprey, or eel of the rocks, which 
 is excellent food, and whofe fkin is befprinkled with gild- 
 ed flowers. It may be affirmed, in general, that every 
 rock in the fea is frequented by a multitude of fifhes, of 
 the moft brilliant colours ; fuch as the gilt head, the per- 
 roquet, the zebra, the roach, and others without number, 
 the very clafles of which are unknown to us. The more 
 that the rocks and fliallows of any fea are multiplied, the 
 more varied, likewife, are the fpecies of the faxatile fifh- 
 es which refort thither. For this reafon it is, that the 
 Maldivia Iflands, which are fo numerous, furnifh them- 
 felves alone a prodigious multitude of fifhes, of very^dif- 
 ferent colours and forms, with the greatefl part of which 
 our Ichthologifls are hitherto totally unacquainted. 
 
 As often, therefore, as you fee a brilliant fifh, you may 
 be afTured that his habitation is near the lliore, and that, 
 on the contrary, he lives in the open Ocean, if he is of a 
 dark colour. The truth of this may be afcertained by 
 ourfelves, in the channels, and on the banks of our own 
 rivers. The filver fmelt, and the blay, whofe fcales are 
 employed in the formation of mock pearls, play on the 
 flrand of the Seine ; whereas the eel, of the gloomy coU 
 our of flate, takes pleafure to dabble in the midfl, and at 
 the bottom of the flream. We muft not, however, pre- 
 tend to generalize thefe Laws, to the exclufion of all ex- 
 ceptions. Nature, as has been faid, fubjefts all to the 
 mutual adaptation of beings, and to the enjoyment of 
 Man. Thus, for example, though the fifhes on the fhores 
 have, in general, fhining colours, there are, however, fev- 
 eral fpecies of them invariably of a dark colour. Such 
 arc, not only thofe which fwim indifferently, as foles, tur- 
 bots, &c. but thofe alfo which inhabit fome parts of the 
 fliores whofe colours are lively. Thus the tortoife, which 
 paflures at the bottom of the fea, on green herbs, or which 
 crawls by night over the white fands, there to dcpofit her 
 ^gg^^ is of a fliadv colour ; tlius the lamentine, which en- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. gl 
 
 Vers into the channel of the rivers of America, in queft of 
 food, in the verdure of their banks, without leaving the 
 water, detaches himfelf frotn that verdure, by the brown 
 colour of his fkin. 
 
 The faxatile filhes, which cart eafily infure their fafety 
 among the rocks, by agility in fwimming. Or by the fa- 
 cility of finding a retreat in their cavernous receptacles, 
 or of there defending themfelves againft their enemies, by 
 the armour which Nature has bellowed, have all of them 
 lively and fhining colours, the cartilaginous excepted: 
 Such are the blood coloured crabs, the azure and purple 
 iobfters, called langoujle and homdrd^ and, among others, 
 that to which RondeUt has given the name of Thetis, on 
 account of its beauty, the violet coloured urchins, armed 
 with points and fpears, the nerits, inclofed in a fpiral 
 cafe, with rofe and gray coloured ribbons winding round 
 it, and an endlefs variety of others. 
 
 It is very remarkable that all fhell fifh which walk and 
 migrate, and, confequently, have the power of choofing 
 their afylum, are thofe, in their kind, which have the rich- 
 eft colours : Such are the nerits which I have juft men- 
 tioned, the purple fifh, or Venus fhell, refembling polifhed 
 marble, the olives, fhaded like velvet of three or four col- 
 ours, the harp, embellifhed with the tints of the moft 
 beautiful tulips, the tunny, fpeckled like the partridge's 
 wing, which walks along under the fliade ot the madre- 
 pores ; and all the families ot the univalves, which force 
 their way into the fand for flielter, the bivalves, as the du- 
 cal cloak, fcarlet coloured and orange, and a multitude 
 of other migrating fhell fifh, are imprefTed with colours 
 the moft lively, and form, with the different grounds ot 
 the Sea, fecondary harmonies totally unknown. 
 
 But thofe which do not change their fituation, as moft 
 of the oyfters of the feas to the fouthward, which fre- 
 quently adhere to the rocks, or thofe which are perpetu- 
 ally at anchor in ftraits^ as mufcles and the pinnamarina, 
 attached to pebbles by threads, or thofe which reft on the 
 VOL. II. L 
 
ii A VINDICATION Of 
 
 bofom of the madrepores, like veffels on the flocks^ zTj 
 the Noah's ark, or tliofe which are entirely buried in the 
 heart of calcareous rocks, as the dail of the Mediterra- 
 nean, or fuch as are immoveable, from their weight, which 
 fomctimes exceeds that of feveral quintals, and pave the 
 furface of flats, as the thuilec of the Moluccas, and the 
 large bivalves, as the rocks, the burgos, &:c. or thofe, in 
 a word, which, 1 believe, are blind, like our land fnails, 
 fuch as lempits, which fallen themfelves, by the forma- 
 tion of a vacuum, on the Ihining furface of the rocks, are 
 of the colour of the ground which they inhabit, in order 
 to be Icfs perceptible to their enemies. 
 
 It is, farther, very highly worthy of obfervation, that 
 though many of thofe fedentary ihell filh are clothed in a 
 brown and fliaggy outward garment, as thofe which are 
 called cornets and rollers; or with a black pellicle of the 
 (hade of the pebbles to which they arc attached, as the 
 Magellan mufclcs ; or encompafTcd with a mud colour- 
 ed tartar, as the lempit and the burgo : They have, un- 
 der their gloomy upper coats, pearly appearances, and 
 tints, the beauty of which frequently exceed thofe of the 
 fliell fifh whofe apparent colours are the mofl brilliant. 
 Thus the Magellan lempit, cleanfed of its tartar by means 
 of vinegar, prefents the richeft of cups, fhaded with the 
 colours of the fineft tortoife (bell, and blended with a 
 burnilhed gold, which is perceptible through a chefnut 
 coloured varnilh. The large mufcle of Magellan's ilrait 
 conceals, in like manner, under its black coat, the oriental 
 Ihadcs of the aurora. 
 
 It is impofhble to afcribe, as in the (liell fifli of India, 
 colours fo charming, to the aftion of the Sun on thefe 
 ftiells, covered as they are with tartars and rough coats, 
 and which are the clothing of fifh that live, befidc, in a 
 foggy climate, abandoned for a great part of the year to 
 gloomy Winters and long tempefts. We may venture to 
 affirm, that Nature has veiled their beauty, only to pre- 
 ferve it for the enjoyment of Man, and has placed them 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. S3 
 
 ^nly on the verge of the flioies, where the Sea purifies 
 tliem, by to/Ting them about, to put thcin within his reach. 
 Thus, by a moil wonderful contrail, fhc places the moil 
 brilliant ihells, in regions the moll expofe<l to the ravages 
 of the elements ; and, by another eontraft, no lefs allon- 
 ifhing, ilie preicnts to the poor Patagonians fpoons and 
 cups, the luilre of which far furpalfes, beyond all conlra- 
 di6lion, the richeil plate of poliflied Nations. 
 
 Plence it may be interred, that fifhes in general, and 
 fliell fifh in particular, which have two oppohte colours, 
 Jive on two different grounds, as we have obferved in the 
 cafe of birds, and that thofe which have only one colour 
 frequent only one ground. I recolleft, that on making 
 the tour of the Ifle of France, on foot, along the fhore of 
 the Sea, 1 found upon it nerits with an afli gray ground, 
 encircled with red ribbons, fometimes on the duiky rocks, 
 ibmetimes on the white madrepores, with their peach col- 
 oured flowers. They contrailcd in the mofl agreeable 
 manner, and appeared at the bottom, on the fea plants, 
 like fruit growing upon them. I likewife found there 
 the Venus ihell, compJetcly white, with a rofe coloured 
 mouth, fwelled backward like eggs, from which too 
 they fometimes borrow their name. But it is now im- 
 poffible for me to affirm, with certainty, whether they ad- 
 hered to the dark coloured rocks, or to the white mad- 
 repores. 
 
 There arc likewife. to be found, on the coafts of Nor- 
 mandy, in the dillri6l of Caux, two forts of rocks, the 
 one of white marl, detached from the cliffs, the other 
 formed of black bifets, which are amalgamated with the 
 craggy cliff. Now, I never law there, in general, but two 
 forts of periwinkles, called by the country people vig?iots, 
 the one very common, and ufcd as food, which is quite 
 black, and the other white, with a faint red mouth. 1 
 prefume not, at this diilance, to aver, whether the white 
 periwinkles attach themfelves to the white rocks, and the 
 black periwinkles to the black rocks, or contrariwifc, for 
 
S4 A VINDICATION of 
 
 I did not make the obfervation. But whether they forrr^ 
 with thofe rocks confonances or contrails, it is very fin- 
 gular that, as there are but two fpecies of rocks, fo there 
 fhould be but two fpecies of periwinkles. I am inclined 
 to believe, that the black periwinkle adheres, in pref- 
 erence, to the black rock ; for I have obferved, in the Ifle 
 of France, that there is neither black coloured periwin- 
 kle, nor mufcle, becaufe there is in thofe feas no pebble, 
 or rock, precifely of that colour ; and I am perfeftly cer- 
 tain, that mufcies are always of the colour of the ground 
 on which they live : Thofe of the Ifle of France are 
 brown. 
 
 It muft not be concluded, on the other hand, that fuch 
 fhell fifh are indebted, for their colours, to the rocks on 
 which they adhere by fusion ; for it would thence fol- 
 low, that the rocks of Magellan's ftrait, which produce 
 mufcies and lempits fo rich in colouring, fliould be them- 
 felves inlaid with mother of pearl, opal and amethyft ; be- 
 fides, every rock maintains fliell fifli of very different col- 
 ours. You find, at the bottom of the rocks on the coaft 
 of the diftrift of Caux, which are loaded with black peri- 
 winkles, the azure coloured lobfter, the crab marbled 
 with red and brown, legions of mufcies of a deep blue, 
 with lempits of an afli gray. All thefe fifhes, when alive, 
 form harmonies the moft agreeable, with a multitude of 
 marine plants, which fringe thofe black and white rocks, 
 with their tints of purple, gray, ru ft coloured, browm and 
 green ; and with the variety of their forms and aggrega- 
 tions, like oaken boughs, tufts of different fliapes, garlands, 
 feffoons, and long cordage, agitated by the waves in every 
 poffible manner, in truth, there is no Painter capable of 
 compofing fimilar groups, let him give what fcope he 
 pleafes to his imagination. Many of thofe marine harmo- 
 nies have efcaped me, for I then confidered them as mere- 
 ly the effeft of chance. I looked at them, I admired them, 
 but 1 obferved them not ; I fufpefted, however, even then^ 
 tha; the pleafure which their harmonic combination in° 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 85 
 
 fpired, muft be referable to fome Law with which I was 
 unacquainted. 
 
 Enough has been faid to demonftrate how much Natur- 
 alifts have mutilated the fineft portion of Natural Hiftory, 
 by retailing, as they for the mofl part do, ifolated defcrip- 
 tions of animals and of plants, without faying a word of 
 the feafon when, and of the place where, they are to be 
 found. By this negligence they ftrip them of all their 
 beauty ; for there is not an animal, nor a plant exifting, 
 whofe harmonic point is not fixed to a certain fituation, 
 to a certain hour of the day, or of the night, to the rifing, 
 or the fetting of the Sun, to the phafes ot the Moon, nay, 
 to the very tempells ; to fay nothing of the other contrails, 
 and correfpondencies, which refult from thefe. 
 
 I am fo thoroughly perfuaded of the exillence of all 
 thofe harmonies, that 1 entertain not the flighteft doubt, 
 but, on feeing the colour of an animal, one might be able 
 to determine, nearly, that of the ground which it inhabits ; 
 and that by following up thofe indications, a road might 
 be paved to very curious difcoveries. For example, we 
 have not hitherto found on any fliore the cor?ie d'ammon^ 
 that fo fill fo commion, and of a fize fo confiderable, in 
 our quarries. I think we ought to look for that brown 
 coloured fliell fifh in grafTy m.arine places, fuch as thofe 
 in which the fea tortoife paftures. I do not know that 
 any one has hitherto thought of dragging thofe bottoms, 
 becaufe of the abundance of fea plants which grow upon 
 them, and becaufe they are frequently of a great depth, 
 and at a great diftance from the coafts, fuch as thofe which 
 furround the Gape de Verd iflands, or, according to oth- 
 ers, toward Florida, and which, at certain feafons, fet their 
 herbage a floating in fuch quantities, that the Sea is cov- 
 ered with it for the fpace of thirty or forty leagues, and 
 fhips can with difficulty force their way through it. If 
 the mofl brilliant fliells are to be found on dark.grounds, 
 dufky fhells ought to be found on r^rccn grounds. 
 
86 A VINDICATION of 
 
 We meet with thofe contrails even in the brute foils 
 of the earth, as I could evince to demonftration, did time 
 permit. The following fimple ftrain of reafoning is fuf- 
 iicient to afcertain the truth of this. If an uniform and 
 mechanical caufe had produced the Globe of the Earth, 
 it mufl have been univerfaily of the fame matter, and of 
 the fame colour ; the hills, the mountains, the rocks, the 
 fands, muft have been amalgams, or the rubbifh, of each 
 other ; but this is not found to be the cafe in any one 
 diftrift, of however fmall extent. In general, as has been 
 faid, the foil is white to the North, and dark coloured to 
 the South, in order to reflefl the heat in the fir ft cafe, and 
 to abforb it in the fecond ; but notwithftanding thefe 
 general difpofitions, you find in every place, in particular, 
 the moft wonderful variety. In the fame canton may be 
 found red mountains, black rocks, white plains, and yel- 
 low fands. Their fubftance is as much varied as their 
 colour ; there are granites, calcareous Hones, gypfes or 
 plallers, and vitrifiable fands. 
 
 In the Ifle of France, the rocks of the mountains are 
 blackilli, the earth in the valleys is red, and the fands on 
 the Ihore are white. The rocks there are vitrifiable, and 
 the fands calcareous. When 1 was in that ifland, a pri- 
 vate adventurer having formed the plan of a glafs manu- 
 factory, the procefs turned out the direftly contrary of 
 what he had propofed ; for, upon lighting up his furnace 
 with great formality and pomp, the fand, of which he ex- 
 pected to make glafs, changed into chalk, and the ftones 
 of his furnace became vitrified. Though it be a rare thing 
 to fee white earths between the Tropics, white fands are, 
 how^evcr, common there, upon the ftiores. It is certain 
 that this colour, from its luftre, and its refraftion to the 
 Horizon, renders low lands perceptible at a very great 
 diflance, as has been well remaFkcd by John Hii^^o de 
 Linjchotten, who, but for thofe fentinels planted by Na- 
 ture on moft of the gloomy and low coafts of India, muft 
 there hiive feveral times made fliipwreck. On the coails 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 8^ 
 
 €f the Pais de Caux the fands are gray, but the cliffs are 
 white ; together with this, they are divided into black and 
 horizontal ftripes of pebbles, which form contrails very 
 perceptible at a great diftance. 
 
 There are places where we find white rocks, and red 
 lands, as in quarries of mill ftone ; from thefe refult very 
 agreeable effefts, efpecially in connexion with their nat- 
 ural acceffories of vegetables, and of animals. I fhould 
 digrefs too far, were I to enter into any detail on this fub- 
 jeft. It is fufficient for me, at prefent, to recommend to 
 Naturalifts to ftudy Nature, as the great Painters do ; that 
 is, by uniting the harmonies of the three kingdoms. Ev- 
 ery one, who fliall obferve in this manner, will find a new 
 light diffufed over the perufal of Voyages and of Natural 
 Hiftory, though their Authors fcarcely ever fpeak of thofe 
 contrails, except by chance, and without expreffing any 
 doubt about the matter. But every man will be himfelf 
 in a condition to difcover their delightful effefts, in what 
 is called brute Nature, I mean that with which Man has 
 not intermeddled. Let me fugged the infallible means of 
 diilinguilhing them : It is fimply this, as often as a nat- 
 ural objeft prefents to you a fentiment of pleafure, you 
 may reft affured that it exhibits fome harmonic concert. 
 
 Beyond all doubt, animals and plants of the fame cli- 
 mate have not received from the Sun, nor from the elements, 
 liveries fo varied, and fo charafteriftic. A thoufand and 
 a thoufand new obfervations may be made upon their con- 
 trafts. He who has not feen them in their natural place, 
 has not yet become acquainted with their beauty, or their 
 deformity. Not only are they in oppofition to the grounds 
 of their refpe61ive habitations, but they are fo likewife 
 between themfelves, as to genus and genus ; and it is wor- 
 thy of remark, that, when thefe contrafts are eftablifhedy 
 they exift in all the parts of the two individuals. We lliall 
 fpeak fomewhat of thofe of plants in the following Study, 
 by fimply glancing at that delightful and inexhaufliblc 
 fubjeft. 
 
6S A VINDICATION of 
 
 Thofe of animals are flill farther extended ; they are 
 dppofed not only in forms and in gcllures, but in inftinfts ; 
 and with differences fo decidedly marked, they love to 
 aflbciate with each other, in the fame places. It is this 
 confonance of tafles w^hich diftinguilhes, as 1 have faid, 
 beings which are in contraft, from thofe which are con- 
 trary, or enemies. Thus the bee and the butterfly extra6l 
 the ne6lar of the fame flowers ; the finglehoofed horfe, 
 fnufEng up the wind, with his mane flowing over his grace- 
 ful neck, delights to amble about airily over the fame 
 meadows an which the ponderous bull impreffes his clo- 
 ven foot ; the dull and ileady afs takes pleafure in fcramb- 
 ling over the rocks where the nimble and capricious goat 
 frifks and bounds ; the cat and the dog live peaceably by 
 the fame fire fide, unlefs where the tyranny of Man has 
 vitiated their difpofitions, by a treatm.ent calculated to ex- 
 cite hatreds and jcaloufies between them. 
 
 Finally, contrails exift not only in the Works of Natui'e 
 in general, but in each individual in particular, and con- 
 ftitute, as well as confonances, the organization of bodies. 
 If you examine one of thofe bodies, of whatever fpecies 
 it may be, you will remark in it forms abfolutely oppo- 
 fite, and, neverthelefs, confonant. It is thus that, in ani- 
 mals, the excretory organs contraft with thofe of nutrition. 
 The long tails of horfes and bulls are oppofed to the large 
 fize of their heads and of their necks, and come in as a fup- 
 plement to the motions of thefe anterior parts, which are 
 too unwieldy to drive away the infefts that infeft them* 
 On the contrary, the broad tail of the peacock forms a con- 
 traft with the length of the neck, and the fmallnefs of the 
 Lead, of that magnificent bird. The proportions ot other 
 animals prefent oppofitions which are no lefs harmonic, 
 nor lefs happily adapted to the neceffities of each fpecies.* 
 
 * This Law of contrafls is, if I am not miftaken, a delicious fourcc of 
 obfcrvation and difcovery. The women, I repeat it, always neaicr to 
 Nature than we are, employ it continually in the affortmcnt of the colours 
 which they ufc in drcfs, whereas no Xa'.uraliil, as far as I know, has ever 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 89 
 
 Marmonies, confonances, progreflions, and contrails, 
 muft, therefore, be reckoned among the firft elements of 
 Nature. To thefe we are indebted for the fentiments of 
 
 obferved that Nature herfelf afts in conformity to it, in the harmony of all 
 her Works. Any one may find a demonftration of this, without ftirring 
 beyond his own houfe. for eximple, though there be among dogs a fingu- 
 lar variety of colours, never was any one feen red, green, or blue : But they 
 are, for the mod part, of two oppofite tinti, the one clear, and the other 
 dark, in order that in whatever part of the houfe they are, they may be per- 
 ceptible on the furniture, with the colour of which they would frequently 
 be confounded, 
 
 Batthough the colours of thofc animals, be taken, as well as thofc of raoft 
 ^quadrupeds, from the two extreme terms of the progreflion of colours, that 
 is, black and white, I do not recolleft that I ever faw a dog completely 
 white, or completely black. White dogs always have fome fpols on their 
 fl!;.ins, were it but the tip of the fnout, of a dark colour. Such as arc black 
 or brown, have ftreaks of white, or fire coloured fpecks j fo that wherever 
 they are, you can eafily perceive them. I have farther remarked in them 
 Ihis inftinft, efpccially in dogs of a dufky colour ; when they want to lie 
 down, they always refort to a white coloured ground, in preference to one 
 of any other colour. The Ladies well know this to be the cafe ; for if 
 there happens to be a little dog, of a dark hue, in an apartment where 
 company is aflembled, he hardly ever fails to goto repofe at a Ladv's foot, 
 and on her petticoats. 
 
 The inftinft, which prompts the dog to retire to reft on white ftuffs, 
 arifesfrom the feeling which he himfelf has of the contraft affefted by the 
 fleas, by which he is frequently tormented. Fleas, in whatever place, re- 
 fort to white coloured objefts. If you enter into a room, where there ar« 
 many of thofe infefts, if you happen to wear white ftockings, thefe will in- 
 fiantly attract them. They will even croud to a fingle (beet of white pa- 
 per. And this is the reafon why light coloured dogs are much more In- 
 fcfted by them than others- I have likewife obferved, that wherever 
 there are dogs of a white colour, the black and the brown always pay court 
 to them, and give them a decided preference as play mates, undoubtedly 
 to get rid of the fleas at their expenfc. In faying this, however, I do not 
 mean to throw an imputation of treachery on their profefTions of friend- 
 ftiip. Were it not for the inftinft of thefe minute, black, nimble, noftur- 
 nal infefts, toward the white colour, it would be impoflible to perceive, 
 and to catch them. 
 
 The common deep coloured fly reforts, in like manner, to white and 
 brilliant objefts ; and this accounts for the tarniibing of every thing gloflfy 
 and gilded in our apartments. The Qefh fly delights, on the contrary, t* 
 fettle on the livid colours of meat in a ftate of putridity. Kis blue c«rfcJ»t 
 makes him eaftly difccrniblc on tha: ground. 
 
 TOL. II. M 
 
90' 
 
 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 order, of beauty and of pleafure, which fpring up in die 
 mind, at the fight of her Works ; and from their abfencc 
 arife the uneafy feelings of diforder, uglinefs, languor, 
 and difguft. They extend equally to all the kingdoms ; 
 and though I have limited myfelf, in the fequel of this 
 Work, to an examination of their effefts in the vegetable 
 kingdom only, it is impofTible for me, however, to deny 
 myfcli the pleafure of indicating them, at leaft, in the hu- 
 man figure. It is here th^it Nature has combined all the 
 harmonic exprefiions in their higheft degree of excellency. 
 All X can do is to trace a feeble fketch of it. To acknowl- 
 
 If we extend thefe cor.trafts farther, we fhall find that, not only all fan- 
 guinivorous infc£^s have the inftinft of oppofing their colours to tbofe of th* 
 fuuations in which thry live, but all cainivorous animals likewife ; whereas 
 all feeble, gentle and innoxious animal?, as we havcfeen, are farnifhcd with 
 means and inftinfta of ccnfon2ncc v.irh the ground on which they are made 
 to inhabit. Thus has Nature willed it fhould be, in order that the firft 
 might be perceived by their enemies, and that the fecond m'ght be enabled 
 to efcape them. 
 
 From thofe natural Laws might be deduced a multitude of ufeful and 
 agreeable confequences, tending to the improvement of our habitations, in 
 refpeS of cleanlincfs and convcniency. For example, in order the more 
 readily to deRroy the infe£>s which difturb our deep, and which are fo 
 com.mon ia Paris, it would be proper to have the alcoves, the ftaining, the 
 drapery, the wooden frame of our beds, of white or faint colours j o» 
 which infefts might be eafily perceived. 
 
 As toconveniency, every one muft be fenfible how necsffary it is that the 
 golours of different pieces of furniture fhould form a contraft, for the pur- 
 pofc of being diftinguilhcd with facility. I am frequently at a lofs, for in- 
 ftance, to know what is become of my fnufl" box, bccaufc it is black, like 
 the table on which I put it down. If Nature had rot been poffeffed of 
 more intelligence than I am, the grcatefl pirt of her Works would utterly 
 dlfanpear. It is very aftonifliing that Philofophers, who have purfued fo 
 many curious rcfrarches rcfpcfting the nature of colours, fhould never have 
 fuggeftcd a fyllable rcfpefting their contraftj, without which nothing would 
 be diftinguiihable ; or rather, their forgetfulnefs is not furprifmg : Man is 
 inccffantly purfuing the illufion which efcapcs him, and ncglefls the ufeful 
 truth which is lying at his foot. 
 
 The harmonics of colours have, befidcs, a mighty influence upon the paf- 
 fions : But I muft not prefume to fay any thing wilh regard to this, in a 
 Coantry where the Women employ them with fuch unbounded fway. To 
 the Women I ftand indebted for the firft idea I had of ftudying the elements 
 ef the taws, by which Nature hcrfclf i'lrivcs to communicate pleafure to vs* 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. yj^^ 
 
 edge the truth, this is not precifely the proper place, nei- 
 ther have 1 leifure to arrange more than a part of the ob- 
 fervations which I have coUefted, on this vaft and inter- 
 efting fubjeft. But the little, which I am going to ad- 
 vance, will be fufficient to overturn the pofition main- 
 tained by ixien of but too high celebrity in the World oi 
 Science, namely, That human Beauty is arbitrary. 
 
 I w4il even go fo far as to flatter myfelf with the hope, 
 that thefe rude EfTays may induce wife men, who love 
 Nature, and who wifli to be acquainted with her Laws^ 
 to dig into the recedes of this vaft mountain of hidden 
 treafure, in v/hich Truth lies buried. Their multiplied 
 illumination wiii condu6l them, without difficulty, through 
 the whole extent of that, invaluable mine, of which, gropi- 
 ing like a blind man, I have traced only the firft fuperfi;. 
 €ial furrows. They will be led on from one rich vein of 
 precious ore, to another ftill richer, fince even 1, if I may 
 prefume to fay fo, have been able, at the bottom of a val- 
 ley, and on the fandy bed of a little rivulet, to pick up i 
 few ftraggling grains of gold. 
 
 OF T?IE HUiMAN FIGURE. 
 
 All the harmonic expreffions fire combined In the Hu- 
 man Figure. In treating this article, I fhall confine my- 
 felf to the examination of fome of thofe which compofe 
 the head of Man. Obferve, its form is an approxima- 
 tion to the fpherical, which, as we have fcen, is the form, 
 by way of excellence. I do not believe that this config- 
 uration is common to it with tb^t of any animal Avhatever. 
 On its anterior part is traced the oval of the face, termin- 
 ated by the triangle of the nofe, and encompaffed by the 
 radiations of the hair. The head is, befides, fupported bv 
 a neck of confiderably lefs diameter than itfelf, whick 
 iJetaches it fr«m the body by a concave part. 
 
92 A VINDICATION of 
 
 This flight {ketch prefents to us, at firft glance, the 
 five harmonic terms of the elementary generation of forms. 
 The hair exhibits lines ; the nofe the triangle ; the head 
 the fphere ; the face the oval ; and the void under the 
 chin the parabola. The neck, which, like a column, fuf- 
 tains the head, exhibits, likewife, the very agreeable har- 
 monic form of the cylinder, compofed of the circular and 
 quadrilateral. 
 
 - Thefe forms, however, are not traced in a ftiff and geo- 
 metrical manner, but imperceptibly run into each other, 
 and mutually blend, as the parts of the lame whole ought 
 tt^^Q. -Thus the hair does not fall in ftraight lines, but, 
 in flowing ringlets, harmonizes with the oval of the face. 
 The triangle of the nofe is neither acute, nor does it pre- 
 sent a right angle; but, by the undulatory fwelling of the 
 noftrils, prefents a harmony with the heart form of the 
 mouth, and, doping toward the forehead, melts away into 
 the cavities of the eyes. The fpheroid of the head, in 
 iike manner, amalgamates with the oval of the face. The 
 fame thing holds -vith refpeft to the other parts, as Nature 
 employs, in their general combination, the roundings of 
 the forehead, of the cheeks, of the chin, of the neck, that 
 is, portions of the moll beautiful of harmonic expreflions, 
 which is the fphere. 
 
 There are, farther, feveial remarkable proportions which 
 form, with each other, very pleafing harmonies and con- 
 trails : Such is that of the forehead, which prefents a 
 quadrilateral form, in oppofition to the triangle, com- 
 pounded of the eyes and the mouth ; and that of the ears, 
 formed of very ingenious acoullic curves, fuch as are not 
 to be met with In the auditory organ of animals, becaufe, 
 in the cafe ot mere animals, it is not intended to coUeft, 
 like that of Man, all the modulations of fpeech. 
 
 But I mufl be permitted to expatiate, fomewhat more 
 at large, on the charming forms, afligned by Nature to the 
 eyes and the mouth, which fhe has placed in the full blaze' 
 #f evidence, becaufe they are the two a£live organs of th© 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 93 
 
 foul. The mouth confifts of two lips, of which the up- 
 per is moulded into the fhape of a heart, that form fo 
 lovely, as to have become proverbial for its beauty ; and 
 the under is rounded into a demicylindric fcgment. In 
 the opening between the lips, we have a glimpfe oi the 
 quadrilateral figure of the teeth, whofe perpendicular and 
 parallel lines contrail moll agreeably with the round forms 
 adjoining, and fo much the more, as we have feen, that the 
 firft generative term being brought into union with the 
 fupremely excellent harmonic term, that is, the flraight 
 line with the fphericai form, the moft harmonic of all con- 
 trails refults from it. 
 
 The fame relations are to be found in the eyes, the forms 
 of which combine ftill more the harmonic elementary ex- 
 preffions ; as it was fit the chief of all the organs fliould 
 do. They are two globes, fringed on the lids with eye- 
 lafhes, radiating with divergent pencil Urokes, which form 
 w^ith them a mofl delightful contraft, and prefent a ftrik- 
 ing confonance with the Sun, after which they feem to 
 have been modelled, having, like that orb, a fphericai fig- 
 ure, encircled with divergent rays, in the eyelaflies ; hav- 
 ing a movement of felf rotation, and poffefling the power, 
 like him, of veiling themfelves in clouds, by means of 
 their lids'* 
 
 The fame elementary harmonies may be traced in the 
 colours of the head, as well as in its forms ; for we have 
 in the face, the pure white exhibited in the teeth and in 
 the eyes ; then the (liades of yellow, which diffolve into 
 its carnation, as the Painters well know ; after that the red, 
 the eminently excellent colour, which glows on the lips 
 and on the cheeks. You fanher remark the blue of the 
 veins, and fometimes that of the eyeballs ; and finally, the 
 black of the hair which, by its oppofiiion, gives relief to 
 the colours of the face, as the vacuum of the neck detaches 
 the forms of the head. 
 
 You will pleafe to obferve, that NaUue employs not, 
 m decorating the hun] an face, colours harftilv oppofcd; 
 
94 A VINDICATION op 
 
 but ble.nds them, as (he does the forms, foftly and infen- 
 fibly into each other. Thus, the white meks here into 
 the yellow, and there into the red. The blue of the veins 
 has a greenifli caft. The hair is rarely of a jet black ; but 
 brown chefnut, flaxen, and, in general, of a colour, into 
 which a fligjbt tint of the carnation enters, in order to pre- 
 vent a violently harlli oppohtion. You will farther ob- 
 ferve, that as (he employs fpherical fegments in forming 
 the mufcles which unite the organs, and in order particu- 
 larly to diftinguifli thefe very organs, flie makes ufe of 
 red for the fame purpofes. She has, accordingly, extend- 
 ed a fli'-Tht fhade of it to the forehead, which fhe has 
 Hrengthcned upon the cheeks, and which flie has applied 
 pure and unm.ixed to the mouth, that organ of the heart 
 where it forms a mod: agreeable contrail with the white- 
 iiefs of the teeih. The union of this colour, with that 
 harm.onic form, is the moft powerful confonance of beaur 
 ty ; and it is worthy of remark, that wherever the fpher- 
 ical forms fwell, there the red colouj ftreagthens, except 
 in the eyes. 
 
 As the eyes are the principal organs of the foul, they 
 are deftined to exprefs all its emotions ; which could not 
 have been done with the harmonic red tint, for this would 
 have given but one fingle expreffion. Nature, in order 
 there to exprefs the contrary paflions, has united in the 
 eye the two moft oppofite of colours, the white of the or- 
 bit and the black of the iris, and fometimcs of the ball, 
 which form a very harfli oppofition, when the globes of 
 the eyes are difplaycd in the full extent of their diameter ^ 
 but by means of the eyelids, which Man can contraft, or 
 dilate, at pleafure, he is enabled to give them the exprQf- 
 :fion of all the paflions, from love to fuiy. 
 
 Thofe eyes whofe balls are blue are naturally the foft- 
 cft, becaufe the oppofition, in this cafe, is lefs harfti with 
 the adjacent white ; but they are the moft terrible ot all 
 when animated with rage, and this from a moral contraft, 
 which con drains us to conGder thofe as the. moft forrui- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 95 
 
 dable of all objefts, that menace evil, after having encour- 
 aged us to expeft good. Perfons, therefore, who are thus 
 diftinguiftied, ought to be carefully on their guard againft 
 treachery to that charafter of benevolence beftowed on 
 them by Nature; for blue eyes exprefs, by their colour, 
 fomething enchantingly celeftial. 
 
 As to the movements of the mufcles of the face, it would 
 be extremely difficult to defcribe them, though I am ful- 
 ly perfuaded it might be poflible to explain their Lawg. 
 Whoever fhall attempt this, mull of neceflity refer them 
 to the moral affeftions. Thofe of joy are horizontal, as 
 if the foul, in the enjoyment of felicity, had a difpofition 
 to extend itfelf. Thofe of chagrin are perpendicular, as 
 if, under the prefTure of calamity, the m.ind was looking 
 toward Heaven for refuge, or feeking it in the bofom of 
 the earth. Into fuch an explanation of the Laws of muf- 
 cular motion rauft likewife enter, the alterations of col- 
 ours, and the contraftions of forms, ajid in thefe, at leaft, 
 we Ihall difcovcr the truth of the principle which we have 
 laid down, that the expreflion of pleafure is in the har- 
 mony of contraries, blending w4th each other in colours, 
 forms, and motions ; and that the expreflion of pain con- 
 fifts in the violence of their oppofitions. The eyes alone 
 have motions ineffable ; and it is remarkable, that, under 
 the influence of very ftrong emotions, they are fuflufed 
 with tears, and thus feem to have a farther analogy with, 
 the orb of day, who, in the feafon of tempells, fhrouds 
 himfelf in rainy diftillations. 
 
 The principal organs of fenfe, four of which are placed 
 in the bead, have particular contrafls, which detach their 
 fpherical forms, by means of radiated forms ; and their 
 filming colours by means of dulky tints. Thus the 
 bright organ of vifion is contrnfted by the eyebrows; 
 thofe of fmell and talle, by the mAiftaches ; the organ of 
 hearing, by that part of the hair called ihe. favouring lock, 
 which feparates the ear from the face ; and the face itfelf 
 
gS. A VINDICATION of 
 
 is diftinguifhed from the reft of the head, by the beard, 
 and by the hair. 
 
 We fhall not here examine the other proportions o£ 
 the human figure in the cylindric form of the neck, op- 
 pofed to the fpheroid of the head, and to the plane furface 
 of the breaft ; the hemifpherical forms of the paps, which 
 contraft with the flatnefs of the cheft ; as well as the 
 cylindrical pyramids of the arms and fingers with the om- 
 oplate of the flioulders ; the confonances of the fingers 
 with the arms, by means of three fimilar articulations, with 
 a multitude of other curvatures, and of other harmonies, 
 which, hitherto, have not fo much as a name in any lan- 
 guage, though they are, in every country, the all power- 
 ful exprellion of beauty. 
 
 The human body is the only one which unites, in it- 
 felf, the modulations, and the concerts, inexpreflibly a- 
 greeable, of the five elementary form.s, and of the five 
 primordial colours, without exhibiting any thing of the 
 harfh and rude oppofitions perceptible in the brute cre- 
 ation, fuch as the prickles of the hedge hog, the horns of 
 the bull, the tufks of the wild boar, the fangs of the lion, 
 the marbled (kin of the dog, and the livid and difgufting 
 colours of venomous animals. It is the only one of 
 which the firft touch, is perceptible, and which you can 
 fee completely ; other animals being difguifed under hair, 
 or feathers, or fcales, which conceal their limbs, their 
 fliape, their fkin. Farther, it is the only form which, in 
 its perpendicular attitude, difplays all its pofitions and di- 
 reftions at once ; for you can hardly perceive more of a 
 quadruped, of a bird, of a fifh, than one half, in the hori- 
 zontal pohtion which is proper to them, becaufe the up- 
 per part of their body conceals the under. 
 
 We muft, likewife, remark, that Man's progreflive mo- 
 tion is fubjeft to neither the (hocks, nor the tardinefs of 
 movem.ent of moft quadrupeds, nor to the rapidity of that 
 •f birds ; but is the rcfult of movements the moft har- 
 
DiVINE PROVIDENCE. gf 
 
 rnonic, as his £gure is, of forms, and of colours, the moft 
 delightful.* 
 
 * It has been maintained by certain celebrated Authors, that the Ne* 
 groes confider their own colour as more beautiful than that of the whites ; 
 but it is a miftake. I have put many a queflion, on this fubjeft, to black, 
 people, who were in my own fervice, in the Ifle of Francfe, and who were 
 at perfeft liberty to tell what they really thought, efpecially on a fubjeft 
 fo indifferent to flavefi, as the beauty of the whites. I fometimes afked 
 them whether of the two they would prefer, a black wife, or a white ? 
 They never hefitated an inftant in declaring their preference of the white 
 woman. Nay, I have fecn a Negro, who had been almoft flead alive by 
 the whip, in one of our plantations, exprefs the higheft delight when the 
 fears of his fores began to whiten, becaufe it fuggefted the hope, that he 
 was thereby going to change colour, and to be negro no longer. The 
 poor wretch would gladly have parted with his whole hide to become 
 white. This preference, we (hall be told, is, in that cafe, the effeft of the 
 fuperiority which they are obliged to afcribe to the Europeans. But the 
 tyranny of their matters ought rather to infpire abhorrence of the colour. 
 BeGdes, the black men and women, of our colonies, exprefs the fame taftei 
 that our pcafantry at home do, for fluffs of lively and glaring colour's. 
 Their fupreme luxury in drefs is a red handkerchief tied round their head. 
 Nature has beftowed no other tints 9n the rofes of Africa than upon thofe 
 cxf Europe. 
 
 If the judgment of black flaves is confidered as a fufpicious authority on 
 the fubjeft, we may refer the decifton to the tafte of the Sovereigns of Af- 
 rica, who are under no temptation to diffemble. They fairly acknowled<^e 
 that in this, as well as in many other refpcfts, they have been more hard- 
 ly dealt with than the Europeans. African Princes have made frequent 
 application to the Goveroois of the Englilli, Dutch and French fettlements 
 on the coaA, for white women, under a promife of very ample privilet^eJ 
 in return. Lami, an Englifh agent at Ardra, when prifoner to the King of 
 iDahomay, in the year 1724, fent word to the Governor of the Englilhfort 
 at Juida, that if he could fend a white woman, or even a mulatto, to this 
 Prince, (he might acquire an unbounded influence over his mind. (Gener- 
 al Hijlory ofVoydges, by the Abbe Prevojl. Book viii. page 96,) 
 
 Another King, on a different part of the coaft of Africa, promifed, one 
 day, to a Capuchin miffionary, who was preaching the Gofpel in his pref- 
 ence, to difmifs his feraglio, and embrace Chriftianity, if he would pro- 
 cure him a white woman to wife. The zealous miffionary immediately 
 repaired to the ncarcft Portuguefc fettlement; and having enquired, whetJi- 
 tx there might not be among them fomc poor and virtuous damfel, fuchas 
 might fuit his purpofe, he was informed of fuch a perfonj the niece of si 
 Vtry poor man of family, who lived in a ftate of great privacy. He wait- 
 ed for her one Sunday morning, at the door of the church, as flie was re- 
 turning from mafs with her kinfman ] aad addrefifing himfelf to the uacle, 
 VQL. II. N 
 
9^ A VINDICATION ot 
 
 The more that the muUiplied confonances of the ha- 
 man figure are agreeable, the more difgufting are its dif- 
 fonances. This is the reafon that, on the face of the 
 
 before all the people, charged him, in the name of God, and as he valued 
 the intcrefts of religion, thnt he would beftow his nieoe in marriage on the 
 Negro King. The gentleman and his niece having given their confent, the 
 black Prince married her, after having difmiffed all his other women, and 
 received public baptifm. (Hiflory of Ethiopia, by Labst.) 
 
 The bcil informed travellers relate many fuch anecdotes, of a fimilar 
 preference expreffed by the black Sovereigns of Africa, and of fouthern A- 
 fia- Thomas Rowe, AmbalTador from England at the Court of the Mogul 
 Sdim Scha, relates, that a very cordial reception was given, by this power- 
 ful Monarch, to certain Portuguefe Jefuits, who had come as miflionaries 
 into his dominions, with a view to obtain, through their means, forae 
 women of th«ir country to recruit his feraglio. He began with conferring 
 on them fingular privileges ; had apartments provided for them in the vi- 
 cinity of his palace, and admitted them to his mod intimate familiarity : 
 Biit perceiving that thofe good fathers difcovercd no great inclination to 
 gratify his defires, he praftifed a very ingenious artifice to draw them into 
 compliance. He expreffed an extreme partiality to the Chriftian Relig- 
 ion ; and pretending that he was reftrained, merely by reafons of State, 
 from openly embracing it, he gave ftrift orders to two of his nephews to 
 attend punftually on the catechetical inftruftions of the mifiTionarics. 
 When the young men had acquired a competent degree of knowledge, he 
 enjoined them to get thcmfelves baptized, and, this being complied with, 
 he thus addreffed them : '* It is now no longer in your power to marry 
 «« pagan women, and of this country ; for you have made profeffion of 
 •« Chriftianity. It is the duty of the fathers, who baptized you, to pro • 
 " cure you wives. Tell them they muft fend to Portugal for women to 
 ** be your brides." The young profclytes did not fail to make this de- 
 mand on the good fathers; who, fufpefting that the Mogul's real intention, 
 in marrying his nephews to Portuguefe wives, was to procure a fupply of 
 white women for his fcraglio, refufcd to engage in this negociation. Their 
 rcfufal highly incenfed Selim Scha, and expofed them to much perfecution : 
 He immediately commanded his nephews to renounce Chriftianity. (Me- 
 ftieirs of Thomas Rowe, Thevenofs ColU8ion.) 
 
 The black colour of the (kin is, as we fhall prefcntly fee, a bleflingfrom 
 Heaven to the Nations of the South, becaufc it abforbs the reflojces of the 
 burning Sun under which they live. But the men of thoTe Nations do not 
 the Icfs, on that account, confider white women as more beautiful than the 
 black, for the fame reafon that they think the dav more beautiful than the 
 lijght, bcraufe the harmonics of colours and of lights render themfelves 
 perceptible in the complexion of the whites, whereas they almoft entirely 
 difappcar in that of the blacks, who can pretend to no competition with 
 ihc others, in point of beauty, except as to form and ftaturc. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 99 
 
 Earth, there Is nothing fo beautiful as a handfume man, 
 «or fo fhocking -as a very ugly one. 
 
 This farther fuggefts a reafon why it will be forever 
 impoflible for art to produce a perfeft imitation of the 
 human figure, from the difficulty of uniting in it all the 
 harmonies, and from the ftill greater difficulty of effeft- 
 ing a complete combination' of thofe which are of a dif- 
 ferent nature. For example, the Painter may fueceed 
 tolerably in imitating the colours of the face, and the 
 Sculptor in expreffing its forms. But were an attempt 
 made to unite the harmony of colours and of forms in a 
 fingle bull, fuch a produ6iion will be very inferior to a 
 mere pifture, or to a mere piece of fculpture, becaufe it 
 will combine particular diffonances of colours and of 
 forms, befides their general diffonance, which is ftill more 
 marked. If to thefe it were farther attempted to add the 
 harmony of movements, as in the cafe of an automaton, 
 this would aggravate the incongruity. Were art to con- 
 tinue its effort, and try to beftow the gift of fpeech like- 
 wife, this muft produce a fourth diffonance, which would 
 be abfolutely hideous ; for here the intelleftual fyftem 
 would clafli frightfully with the phyfical fyftem. It is, 
 accordingly, matter of no furprife to me, that St. Thomas 
 Aquinas was fo ffiockcd at the fpeaking head, in con- 
 ftrufting which, his mafter, Albert the Great, had employ- 
 ed fo many years, that under the influence of horror, he 
 inftantly broke it to ftiivers, It muft have produced on 
 him the fame impreffion which he would have felt, had 
 he heard an articulate voice iffuing out of a dead man's 
 
 The proportions of the human figure, having been taken, as we have 
 juft feen, from the moft beautiful forms of Nature, are become, in their 
 turn, models of beauty for Man. If we attend to this, we fliall find, that 
 the forms which pleafe us tnoft in works of art, as thofe of antique vafcs, 
 and the relations of height and breadth in moHumeots have been taken 
 from the human figure. It is well known that the Ionic column, with its 
 capital and its flutings, was imitated after the fliapc, the head drefs, andi. 
 ihe drapery of the GreciaH young women. 
 
*oo A VINDICATION of 
 
 mouth. Such labours, in general, do the Artifl mucH 
 honour ; but they demonllrate the wcakncfs of art, which 
 falls below Nature juft in proportion as it aims at uniting 
 more of her harmonies. Inftead of blending them, as 
 Nature herfelf does, art can only place them in oppofition. 
 
 All this proves the truth of the principle which we 
 have laid down, namely, that harmony refults from the 
 union of two contraries, and difcord from their coUifion : 
 And the more agreeable that the harmonies of an obje6l 
 are, the more difgufting are its difcordances. This is the 
 real origin of pleafure and of diflike, in phyfics as in mor- 
 als, and the reafon why the fame objeft fo frequently ex- 
 cites afFeftion and averfion. 
 
 A great variety of very interefting reflexions remain to 
 be made on the human figure, efpecially by connefting 
 with it the moral fenfations, which alone give expreflion 
 to the features. We (hall introduce fome of thefe in the 
 fequel of this Work, when we come to fpeak of fenti- 
 ment. Be it as it may, the phyfical beauty of Man is fo 
 Ilriking, in the eyes even of the animal creation, that to 
 it, principally, mull be afcribed the empire which he ex- 
 crcifes over them, in every part of the Earth. The fee- 
 ble flee for refuge under his proteftion, and the moll 
 powerful tremble at fight of him. Mathiola relates, that 
 the lark will fave herfelf amidfl troops of men, when fhe 
 perceives the bird of prey hovering over her. The reali- 
 ty of this infl:incl was confirmed to me by an officer, who 
 was once an eye witnefs of one, in fuch circumllances, 
 fleeing for fafety among a very diftinguiflied fquadron of 
 cavalry, in which he then ferved ; but the trooper whofe 
 particular protecliqn flie fought, trampled her to death 
 under his horfe's feet ; a moll barbarous aftion, which 
 drew on him, and juftly, the indignation of every good 
 man in the corps. 
 
 I myfelf have feen a flag, when run down by the 
 hounds, appeal, with fobs, for relief, to the compafTion 
 ©f ^crfons accidentally pafling that way. Pliny relates a 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. lo^ 
 
 ^milar faft, and it is confiftent with my own experience^ 
 yfhen I was in the Ifle of France, which 1 have de^ 
 tailed in the journal of my voyage to that Illand. I have 
 feen, in the farm yards, the India hens, under the impulfe 
 of love, go and throw themfelves chuckling at the feet af 
 the country people. If we meet lefs frequently with in- 
 ftances of the effect of animal confidence in Man, it is be- 
 caufe of the noife of our fowling pieces, fearing them in- 
 cefTantly, and of the continual other perfecutions which 
 they are doomed to undergo. 
 
 It is well known with what familiarity the monkeys, 
 and fowls of all kinds, approach travellers in the forefls 
 of India.* I have feen at the Cape of Good Hope, in 
 Cape town itfelf, the fhores of the Sea fwarming with wa- 
 ter fowls, which perched confidently on the fhallops, and 
 a large wild pelican playing clofe by the cuftom houfe, 
 with a great dog, whofe head fhe took into her enormous 
 beak. This fpeftacle conveyed to me, from the moment 
 of my arrival, a moft powerful imprefTion in favour of the 
 happinefs of that country, and of the humanity of its in- 
 habitants : Nor did my conjeQure deceive me. 
 
 But dangerous animals, on the contrary, are feized 
 with terror at the fight of Man, unlefs they be driven 
 from their natural bias by fome prefiing neceflTity. Ai% 
 elephant will fuffer himfelf to be led about, in Afia, by 
 a little child. The African lion retires, growling, from 
 the cabin of the Hottentot ; furrenders up to him the pof- 
 feflions of his anceftors, and feeks for himfelf a kingdom 
 far remote, in forefls, and among rocks, untrodden by the 
 foot of Man. The immenfe whale, amidft his native ele- 
 ment, trembles, and flees away before the puny bark of the 
 Laplander. And thus, to this day, is executed that all 
 potent Law, which fecured empire to Man, though funk 
 into guilt and v/retchednefs : ** And the feaj- of you, and 
 *•* the dread of you, fliall be upon every bcjill of the G^rth, 
 
 • See BirnUr and Mar.d/j!u. 
 
10* A VINDICATION or 
 
 ** and upon every fov/1 of the air ; upon all that movetk 
 " upon the earth, and upon all the fifhes of the fea ; into 
 ** vour hand are they delivered."^" 
 
 It is fingulariy remarkable, that, through the whole ex- 
 tent of Nature, there is no animal whatever, nor plant, 
 nor fofTil, nor even globe, but what has its confonance 
 ^nd its contraft out of itfelf, Man excepted. No one vif- 
 ible being enters into fociety with him, but either as his 
 fervant or as his flave. 
 
 We muft, undoubtedly, reckon, among the human pro- 
 portions, that Law fo univerfal, and fo wonderful, which 
 produces males and females in equal numbers. Did 
 chance prefide over the generation of the human race, as 
 over our alliances, we fhould one year have an unmixed 
 crop of male children, and another, a race entirely female. 
 Some nations would confift v/holly of men, and others, 
 wholly of women ; but all over the Globe, the two f(txes 
 are born, within the fame fpaceof time, equal in number. 
 A confonance fo regular, clearly demonftrates, that a 
 Providence is continually watching over the affairs of 
 Mankind, notwithftanding the abfurdity and diforder of 
 human inftitutions. This may be confidered as a {landing 
 teftimony to the truth of our Religion, which, likewife, 
 limits Man to one Woman in marriage, and by this con- 
 formity to natural Laws, peculiar to itfelf, feems alone to 
 have emanated from the Author of Nature. It may 
 fairly be concluded, on the contrary, that a religion, which 
 permits, or connives at, a plurality of wives, muil be er- 
 roneous. 
 
 Ah ! how little acquainted are they with the Laws of 
 Nature, who, in the union of the two fexes, look for 
 nothing farther than the pleafures of fenfe ! They are on- 
 ly culling the flowers of life, without once tailing of its 
 •fruit. The fair fex ! this is the phrafe of our men of 
 pleafure ; women are known to them under no othev 
 
 • Gcncfis, chap. ix. ver. 2, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 
 
 log 
 
 idea. But the fex Is fair only to perfons who have no 
 other faculty except that of eyefight. Befides this it is, 
 to thofe who have a heart, the creative fex which, at the 
 peril of life, carries Man, for nine months, In the womb ; 
 and the cherifliing fex, which fuckles and tends him in in- 
 fancy. It Is the pious fex which condufts him to the al- 
 tar while he Is yet a child, and teaches him to draw in, 
 with the milk of her breaft, the love of a religion which 
 the cruel policy of men would frequently render odious 
 to him. It Is the pacific fex, which Iheds not the blood 
 of a fellow creature ; the fympathizing fex, which minif- 
 ters to the fick, and handles without hurting them. 
 
 To no purpofe does Man pretend to boaft of his power 
 and his ftrength ; if his robuft hands are able to fubdue 
 iron and brafs, thofe of the woman, more dextrous, and 
 more ufefully employed, can fpin into threads the flax and 
 the fleeces of the flieep. The one encounters gloomy- 
 care with the maxims of philofophy ; the other banlflies 
 it by fportivenefs and gaiety. The one oppofes to exter- 
 nal evils the force of his reafon ; the other, far happier, 
 eludes them by the mobility of her's. If the man fome- 
 tlmes confiders It as his glory to bid defiance to danger in 
 the field of battle, the woman triumphs, in calmly meet- 
 ing dangers more Inevitable, and frequently more cruel, 
 on her bed, and under the banners of pleafure. Thus, 
 they have been created to fupport together the ills of life, 
 and to form, by their union, the moll powerful of confo- 
 nances, and the fweetefl of contrails. 
 
 I am obliged, by the plan of my Work, to proceed for- 
 ward, and to refrain from purfuing my refle6lions on fub- 
 jefts fo interefling as the marriage, and the beauty, of 
 Man and Woman. I mull, however, hazard fome far- 
 ther obfervations, extra6led from my flore, In order to in- 
 duce others to dive Into this rich mine, with the addition- 
 al value of novelty. 
 
 All Philofophers who have made Man their particular 
 lludy, are agreed, and with good, reafon, that he is the 
 
164 A VINDICATION oy 
 
 thoU wretched of all animals. Mod of them appear t(? 
 have been fenfible, that an afTociate was neceflary to him,- 
 to relieve his burthen^, and they have made his happinefs. 
 in part, to coniiil of Iriendfliip ; which is an evident dem- 
 Gnftration of human weaknefs and mifery ; for were! 
 Man naturally ftrong, he would ftand in no need of either 
 affociate or afhftance. Elephants and lions live folitary 
 in the forefts. They need no friends, becaufe Nature has 
 tnade them ftrong. 
 
 It is very remarkable that, when the Ancients give us 
 a reprefentation of perfe6l friendfhip, it is always reftri6t- 
 cd to two, and no more, whatever may be the extent of 
 human weaknefs ; for Man is frequently reduced to the 
 liecefTity of deriving his felicity from the concurririg in- 
 terpofition of many beings fimilar to himfelf. Several 
 reafons may be afiigned for this reftriftion, the principal 
 of which are deducible from the nature of the human 
 lieart, which, from its very weaknefs, is capable of attach- 
 ing itfelf to only one objeft at once ; and which, being 
 4:ompounded of' oppofite palTions, that maintain a perpet- 
 ual counterpoifc, is, in fome fen fe, both aft ive and pafTive, 
 and (lands in need of loving and of being beloved, of com- 
 forting and of being comforted, of honouring and of be- 
 i«o- honoured, and fo on. Accordingly, all the friendfhips 
 celebrated in the hiftoric page, exifted only between two 
 fX^rfons ; fuch as thofe of Cajfor and PollUx ; of Thefeus 
 a»d Pentkoiis ; of Hercules and lolas ; of Orejles and 
 Pylades ; of Alexander and Hepke/Iion, and many others. 
 ' It is farther to be remarked, that thofe fmgular friend- 
 fbips have ever been alTociated with virtuous and heroic 
 aftions ; but whenever the union comprehended more 
 perfons than two, it was fpeedily dilfolved by difcord, 
 or, if permitted to fubfift for any length of time, became 
 famous only for the mifchief which it brought on Man- 
 kind : Such was that of the triumvirate among the Ro- 
 mans. In cafes when the alTociates, in fuch alliances, 
 were ftill more numerous, the mifchief which they did 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 105 
 
 Was always in proportion to the greatnefs of the number 
 ©f which they confided. Thus, the tyranny of the De- 
 cemviri at Rom^e exhibited a violence ftill more cruel 
 than that of the Triumviri, for it fpread deftruftion, we 
 may venture to fay, without palTion, and in cold blood. 
 
 There are, likewife, triummillvirates, and decemmillvi- 
 rates : Thefe are your various defcriptions of Corps. 
 With good reafon have they obtained the appellation of 
 Corps ; for they frequently have a centre diftinft from 
 their Country, of which they ought only to be members. 
 They have, likewife, views diftincl from thofe of their 
 Country, a diftinft ambition, and diftinft mterefrs. They 
 are, with relation to the reft of the citizens, inconftant, 
 detached, deftitute of an objeft, and frequently deftitute 
 alfo, of the fpirit of patriotifm : That, in a word, which 
 regular troops are with relation to light troops. They 
 will not fufFer them to appear in an avenue along which 
 they themfelves are advancing, and difpoffefs them of the 
 pofts which they may have occupied, the whole length of 
 their route. How many revolutions have been effefted 
 in Ruflia by the Strelitzes ; in Rome, by the Pretorian 
 guards ; at Conftantinople, by the Janizaries ; and elfe- 
 where, by Corps ftill more political! Thus, by a juft re- 
 a6iion of Providence, the fpirit of Corps has been as fatal 
 to countries, as the fpirit of Country has itfelt been t® 
 Mankind. 
 
 If the heart of Man admits of but a fingle obje8:, What 
 judgment fhall we form of our modern friendftiips, em- 
 br acing, as they do, fuch a multiplicity ? Undoubtedly, 
 if a man has thirty friends, he can beftow on each of them 
 only the thirtieth part of his affeftion, and can receive, in 
 return, no greater proportion of theirs. He muft of ne- 
 ceftity, therefore, deceive them, and be deceived by them ; 
 for no one is difpofed to be a friend by fracfions. 
 
 But, if the truth may be told, fuch friendfhips are 
 merely confederacies of ambition ; relations interefted and 
 purely political, employed entirely in praftifing mutual 
 
 V©L. II. O 
 
iQ6^ A VINDICATION or 
 
 illufion, in the view of aggrandizing themfelves at the e?^^ 
 penfe of Society ; and which would be produftive of un- 
 fpeakable mifchiet, were they more clearly united among, 
 themfelves, and unlefs they were counterbalanced by op- 
 pofite confederacies. Almoft all our general affociations, 
 accordingly^ iffive in inteftine wars. On the other hand, 
 I do not fpeak of the inconveniencies which refult from 
 particular unions, rather toa intimate. The moft celebrat- 
 ed triendfliips of Antiquity have not been, in this refpeft, 
 wholly exempt from fufpicion, though, 1 am perfuaded^ 
 they were as virtuous as the perfons who were the objefts 
 of them. 
 
 The Author of Nature has given to each of us, in 
 our own fpecies, a natural friend, completely adapted ta 
 all the demands of human life, capable of fupplying all. 
 the aflefliions of th€ heart, and all the reftlefTnefs of tem- 
 perament. He fays, from the beginning of the World : 
 *' It is not good' that the man fhould be alone : 1 will 
 " make him an help meet for him ; — and the Lord Goi> 
 *' made Woman, and brought her unto the Man.*" Wo- 
 man pleafes all our fenfes by her form and by her graces. 
 She has, in her character, every thing that can intereft the' 
 heart of Man, and at every ftage of human life. She- 
 merits, by the long and painful folicitudes which flie ex- 
 crcifes over our infancy, our refpeft as a mother, and our 
 gratitude as a nurfe ; afterward, as Man advances to youth, 
 fhe attraHs all his love as a miftrefs ; and in the maturity 
 of manhood, all his tendernefs as a wife, his confidence as 
 a faithful fleward, his proteBion, as being feeble ; and^ 
 even in old age, (he merits bur higheft confideration, as- 
 the fburce of pofterity, and our intimacy, as a friend wha 
 has been the companion of our good and bad fortune 
 through life. Her gaiety, nay, her very caprices, balance,, 
 it all feafons, the gravity, and tjie over reflexive conftancy 
 
 * Gcncfis, chap. ii. vcr. i%, C2, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 107 
 
 of Man, and acquire, reciprocally, a preponderancy over 
 
 .liim. 
 
 Thus, the defefts of the one fex, and the excefs of the 
 other, are an exa6l mutual compenfation. They are form- 
 ed, if I may ufe the expreflion, to be grooved into each 
 other, like the correfponding pieces of carpenters' work, 
 the prominent and retreating parts of which conftitute a 
 veffel, fit to launch on the ftormy ocean of life, and to 
 attain additional ftrength from the very buffetings of the 
 tempeft. Had we not been informed by a Sacred Tradi- 
 tion, that Woman was extraQed from the fide of Man ; 
 ^nd though this great truth were not every day manifelled, 
 in the wonderful birth of the children of the two fexes, 
 in equal nuRib^rs, we fliould be fpeedily inftruaed in it 
 bv our wants. Man without the Woman, and Woman 
 without the Man, are imperfea beings, in the order of 
 Nature. But, the greater contrail there is in their char- 
 afters, the more complete union there is in their harmo- 
 nies. It is, as we have already briefly hinted, from their 
 oppofitions in talents, in t^es, in fortunes, that the moft 
 intenfe and the moft durable affeftion is produced. Mar- 
 riage is, therefore, the friendihip of Nature, and the only 
 real union which is not expofed, like thofe which exift 
 among men, to eftrangement, to rivalfhip, to jealoufies, 
 and to the changes which time is effefting in our inclina^ 
 lions. 
 
 But, Wherefore are there fo few happy marriages a- 
 mong us ? 1 anfwer, Becaufe with us the fexes have di- 
 vefted themfelves each of its proper nature, and afTumed 
 the other. It is becaufe the women, with us, adopt the 
 manners of men, from education ; and men the manners 
 of women, from habit. The women have been defpoiied 
 of the graces, and of the talents, peculiar to their fex, by 
 the mafters, the fciences, the cuftoms, the occupations of 
 men. There is no way left, fave one, but that is infallible, 
 to bring both back to Nature ; it is to infpire them with 
 » talle for Religion. By Religion, I do not n\ean attach- 
 
io8 A VINDICATION of 
 
 ment to ceremonies, nor fyflems of Theology ; but the re-* 
 ligion of the heart, pure, fimple, unoftentatious ; fuch as 
 it is To beautifully depifted in the Gofpel. 
 
 Religion will reflore to the two fexes, not only their 
 moral character, but their phyfical beauty. It is not cli- 
 mate, it is not aliment, it is not bodily exercife, nor all 
 thefe together, which form human beauty ; it is the moral 
 fentiment of virtue, which cannot fubfift independently of 
 Religion. Aliment arid exercife, no doubt, contribute 
 greatly to the magnitude and the expanfion of the body ; 
 but they have no manner of influence on the beauty of 
 the face, which is the true phyfiognomy of the foul. It 
 is by no means uncommon to fee perfons tall and robuft 
 difguflingly ugly ; with the ftature of a giant, and the 
 face of a monkey. 
 
 Beauty of face is to fuch a degree the expreflion of the 
 harmonies of the foul, that, in every country, thofe claffes 
 of citizens who are, from their condition, obliged to live 
 with others in a ftate of conftraint, are fenfibly the home- 
 liefl of the fociety. The truth of this obfervation may be 
 afcertained, particularly among the nobleffe of many of 
 our provinces, who live with each other in the perpetual 
 jealoufy of rank, and with their neighbours of an inferior 
 order, in a ftate of unremitting hoftility, for the mainte- 
 nance of their prerogatives. Moll of thofe Nobles pre- 
 fent a complexion bilious and parched. They are mea- 
 gre, fulky, and perceptibly uglier than the other inhabi- 
 tants of the fame diftrift, though they breathe the fame 
 air, live on the fame aliments, and, in general, enjoy a fu- 
 perior degree of fortune. Accordingly, they are far from 
 being gentlemen both in name and in faft. Nay, there 
 is a Nation bordering upon ours, the fubje6ls of wliich are 
 aS much celebrated all over Europe, for their pride as for 
 their homclinefs. All thofe men are rendered hard fa- 
 voured from the fame caufes that moft of our children 
 degenerate in look ; who, however amiable in early life, 
 Ijecome ugly on going to college, from the miferies and 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ,09 
 
 jrkfomenefs of their inftitutions. 1 fay nothing of their 
 natural chara6ier, which undergoes the fame revolution 
 with their phyfiognoniy ; this laft being always a confe- 
 quence of the other. 
 
 The fame thing docs not hold good refpefting the no^ 
 bleffe of fome other of our provincial diflrifts, and the 
 nobility of other parts of Europe. Thefe, living, as they 
 do, in good underftanding among themfelves, and with 
 their compatriots, are, in general, the handfomell men of 
 their Nation, becaufe their focial and benevolent fpirit is 
 libt in a Hate of incelTant conftraint aind anxiety. 
 
 To the fame moral caufes may be referred the beauty 
 of the features of the Greek and Roman phyfiognomies, 
 ,where we generally meet with models fo exquifite, in 
 .their ftatues and medallions. They were beautiful, be- 
 caufe they were happy ; they lived in cordial union with 
 their equals, and in the enjoyment of popular fav^our with 
 the citizens at large. Befides, there were among them no 
 melancholy, moping, monkifh inftitutions, fimilar to 
 thofe of our colleges, to disfigure the whole youth of a 
 Nation at once. The defcendants of thofe fame Nations 
 are, at this day, far from exhibiting a refemblance to their 
 anceftors, though the climate of their country is not in 
 the fmalleft degree changed. 
 
 It is, farther, to moral caufes that we mull refer the 
 fmgularly dignified phyfiognomies of the great Lords of 
 the Court of Louis XIV, as is vifible in their portraits. 
 In general, perfons ot quality being, by their rank, elevat- 
 ed above the reft of the Nation, do not live continually at 
 daggers drawing with each other, and with the other fuq- 
 je6ts of the State, as is the cafe of m.ofl of our fmall coun- 
 try gentlemen. Befides, they are ufually educated under 
 the paternal roof, that is, under the blefied influence of 
 dojneftic enjoyment, and tar remote from foreign jealoufy 
 arid ftrife. But thofe of the age of Louis XIV, had this 
 diftinguifhed advantage over their pofterity, that they were 
 taught to value themfelves on beneficence, and popular 
 
n«, A VINDICATION of 
 
 affability, and on beftowing their patronage upon talents 
 and virtue, wherever they found them. There is not, per- 
 haps, a great Family of that period, but what has the hon- 
 our to boaft of having brought forward, and raifed into 
 diftinftion, fome one man of obfcuTe birth, or of the infe- 
 rior nobility, who afterwards rendered himfelt illuftrious, 
 by means of fuch fupport, in arts, in literature, in the 
 church, or in the army. 
 
 Thefe grandees afted thus, in imitation of the Sovereign, 
 or, perhaps, from a remainder of the fpirit of the magnif- 
 icence of the feudal government, which then expired. Be 
 this as it may, they were handfome, becaufe they were 
 contented and happy ; and this noble emotion of foul fo- 
 rward beneficence, has imprelfed on their phyfiognomy a 
 majeftic charafter, which will ever dillinguifli them from 
 the men of preceding ages, and ftill more from that which 
 has fucceeded. 
 
 Obfervations of this kind are not an objefl of curiofity 
 racrelv ; they are of much more importance than is gen- 
 erally apprehended ; for it follows, as a necelTary confe- 
 quence, that, in order to form in a Nation beautiful chil- 
 <iren, and, of courfe, handfome men, in both the phyfical 
 and moral fenfe of the word, it is not necelTary, accord- 
 ing to the doftrine of certain medical men, to fubjeft the 
 human fpecies to regular purgations, and under particular 
 afpcfts of the Moon. Children reftrifted to a rigid reg- 
 imen of this fort, a*s are moil of thofe of our Phyficians 
 v'.nd Apothecaries, all prefcnt wan pafteboard figures ; and 
 when grown up, pale complexions, and bilious tempera- 
 ments, like their fathers. 
 
 In order to render children beautiful, you mufl rcn- 
 4krthem phyhcally, but above all, morally happy. You 
 muft prevent every pofhble occafion of vexation to them, 
 not by kindling m their breaih dangerous and headftrong 
 paffions, as in the cafe of fpoilcd children, but, on the 
 contrary, by teaching them to curb fuch as they have 
 from Nature^ and which fociety is ev^r .exciting into a 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. in 
 
 ilatc of fermentation ; and efpecially, by carefully guard- 
 ing againft the communication of every thing unnatural, 
 fuch as ufelefs and irkfome tafks, emulations, rivalfhips, 
 
 and the like But we fhall relume this important fub- 
 
 jeft, at greater length, hereafter. 
 
 The uglinefs of a child is to be imputed, in almoft ev- 
 €ry cafe, to his nurfe, or to his preceptor. I have fome- 
 times obferved, among fo many claffes of fociety, more 
 or lefs disfigured by our inftitutions, fome families fin- 
 gularly beautiful. On enquiring into the caufe of this, 
 I have found that thofe families, though of the common- 
 alty, were happier, in a moral refpeft, than thofe of other 
 citizens ; that the mothers had fuckled their own chil- 
 dren ; that the young people had learned their Occupa- 
 tions under the paternal roof and infpeftion ; that they 
 had been treated with much tendernefs and indulgence ; 
 that their parents were fondly attached to each other ; 
 and that they ail lived together, notwithftanding the hard- 
 fhips of their low condition, in a Hate of liberty and cor- 
 diality, which rendered them good, happy and fatisfied. 
 
 I have thence deduced this other confequence: That 
 we frequently make a falfe eflimate of the happinefs of 
 human life. On feeing here a Gardener, with the port o£ 
 a Roman Emperor; and there a great Lord, with the 
 mafk of a flave, I imagined, at firft, that Nature had com- 
 mitted a miftake. But experience demonftrates, that the 
 great Lord in queftion is, from the hour of his birth to 
 that of his death, placed in a feries of pofitions, which per- 
 mit him not to gratify his own inclination three times a 
 year. For he is under the necefTity, from his infancy up- 
 ward, to do the will, firft of his preceptors and mafters ; 
 in more advanced life, that of his prince, of minifters of 
 ftate, of his rivals, nay, frequently, that of his enemies. 
 Thus, he finds fetters innumerable in his very dignities. 
 Our Gardener, on the other hand, pafTes his whole lits 
 without being expofed to the flighteft contradiftion. Like 
 the Centurion, in the GofpeK he fays to hi^ fervanf. 
 
112 A YlNDlCATlOxX or 
 
 Come, and he cometh ; and to another, Do this, and h?? 
 doeth it. This demon ftrates, that Providence has aiTignea 
 to our very paffions a part widely different from that 
 which fociety prefents to them ; for, in cafes innumerable, 
 the moft unrelenting flavery is impofed^ together with an 
 accumulation of honours; and, in the meaneft of human 
 conditions, we frequently find the poffefTion of the moft 
 unbounded empire. 
 
 Befides, perfons who have been disfigured, by the cor- 
 ruptive impreffion of vicious education and habits, haver 
 it in their power to reform their looks ; and I fay this^ 
 principally, for the fake of our females, who, in order to 
 gain this point, apply white and red, and patch up faces, 
 like thofe of dolls, utterly deftitute of charafter. After 
 all, they are in the right ; for it is much better to conceal 
 chara6ler altogetiier, than to exhibit that of the cruel paf- 
 fions which are often preying upon them ; efpecially to 
 the eyes of fo many of the other fex, who ftudy chara61er, 
 merely to take the advantage of it. There are infallible 
 means in their power of acquiring a beauty altogether ir- 
 refiftible. It is to be internally good, gentle, companion- 
 ate, fenfible, beneficent and devout. Thefe affeclions of 
 a virtuous foul will imprefs on their features charaftcrs 
 alt@gether celeftial, which will appear beautiful, even to 
 the fartheft extremity of old age. 
 
 Nay, I will venLur-e fo far as to affirm, that the harfher 
 the traits may be in homely perfons, who have fuffered 
 degradation from a faulty education, the more fublime and 
 imprefiive will be the contrafts produced in them by thofc 
 which they acquire from habits of virtue ; for, when we 
 find goodnefs under an unpromifing exterior, .we are as 
 agrcaably furprifcd as at finding violets and primrofcs 
 under a fhrubbejry of briars and thprns; Such was the 
 fenfation infpired, on a firft introduction to tl^c. crabbe*! 
 looking M. cU Turenne ; and fuch, 'in pur days, is that 
 which we feci at the fir if afpeCf of a .ccnamnQrtUern 
 Prince, a« jiiltly celebrated for his goodnefs, as.theKing. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. i,g 
 
 iis brother, has rendered himfelf by his vi6lories. I havd 
 no doubt, that the repellihg outfide of thefe two great men, 
 may have greatly contributed to give a peculiar promi- 
 neficy to the excellence of their heart. Such, tpo, was 
 the beauty of Socrates, who, with the features of a profli- 
 gate, delighted every eye, while he difcourfed of virtue. 
 
 But to no purpefe will a man attempt to decorate his 
 countenance with the indications of good qualities, to 
 which his heart is a flranger. This falfe beauty produces 
 an effeft ftill more difgufting than the moft decided ugli- 
 nefs ; for when, attracted by an apparent goodnefs, We ac- 
 tually find diflibnefty and perfidy, we are feized with hor^ 
 ror, as when we find a ferpent lurking in a bed of flowers. 
 Such is the deteftable charafter generally afcribed to cour- 
 tiers. 
 
 Moral beamty, then, is that after which we are bound 
 to afpire, that its divine irradiations may be diffufed over 
 our features, and over our a6lions. To no purpofe will 
 a Prince himfelf make his boaft of high birth, riches, credit, 
 wit ; the People, in order to know him, muft look him in 
 the face. The People form their judgment of him entire- 
 ly from the phyfiognomy : It is, in every Country, th« 
 firft, and, frequently, the laft letter of retommendatiort* 
 
 OF CONCERTS. 
 
 Concert is an order formed of feveral harmonies ol' va- 
 ifious kinds. It differs from Ample order in this, that the 
 laft is, frequently, nothing but a feries of harmonies of iht 
 fame fpecies. 
 
 Every particular Work of Natiire prefents, in different 
 kinds, harmonies, confonances, contrafts ; and foritis ^ 
 real concert. This we fliall more amply unfold in the 
 Study which treats of plants. It may henceforward b« 
 
 VOL. ri. p 
 
M4 A VINDICATION of 
 
 coiifidered as a well founded remark, on the fubjeft of 
 thofe harmonies, and of thofe contrafts, that vegetables^ 
 whofe flowers have the leaft luftre, are frequented by ani- 
 mals of the moft brilliant colours; and, on the contrary, 
 that the vegetables which are moft highly coloured, fervc 
 as an afylum to the dufkieft animals. This is particularly 
 evident in countries fituated between the Tropics ; where 
 the trees and herbage, which have few, if any, apparent 
 flowers, lodge and fupport birds, iflfefts, nay monkies, of 
 the moft lively colours. It is in the plains of India thai 
 the peacock difplays his gaudy plumage, on flirubbery 
 defpoiled of verdure by the burning heat of the Sun. In 
 the fame climates, it is, that the parrot race, confifting of 
 fo many different fpecies, enamelled with a thoufand vari- 
 ous colours, perch on the gray boughs of the palm tree, 
 and that clouds of little paroquets, green as the emerald, 
 alight on fields embrowned by the lengthened heats of 
 Summer. 
 
 In our temperate regions, on the contrary, moft of our 
 birds are dull coloured, bccaufe moft of our vegetables 
 have flowers and fruits with fliining colours. It is very re- 
 markable, that fuch of our birds and infefts as have lively- 
 colours ufually choofe, for ^their habitation, vegetables 
 that have no apparent flowers. Thus, the heath cock 
 glifters on the gray verdure of the pine, whofe apples 
 ferve him for food. The goldfinch builds his neft in the 
 rough fuller's thiftle. The moft beautiful of our caterpil- 
 lars, which is marbled with fcarlet, is to be found on a 
 fpecies of the tithymal, that ufually grows in the fands, 
 and amid ft the quarries of the foreft of Fontainbleau. On 
 the contrary, our birds of dufky hue inhabit ftirubbery 
 with gay coloured flowers. The black headed bullfinch 
 builds his neft in the white thorn, and that lovely bird ex- 
 hibits a farther moft agreeable confonance and contraft with 
 the prickly ftirub where he refides, by his blood ftained 
 breaft, and the fweetnefs of his fong. The nightingale, 
 with brown plumage, deli^jhts to neftle in the rofc bufli, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. itg 
 
 according ta the traditions of the oriental Poets, who 
 have founded many a charming fable on the loves of that 
 melancholy bird for the rofe. 
 
 I could here exhibit a multitude of other harmonies, of 
 a fimilar nature, refpeQing the animals both of our own, 
 and of foreign countries. 1 have coUefted thefe to a very 
 conliderable number ; but, I acknowledge, they are too 
 incomplete to admit of my forming of them the entire 
 concert of one plant, I fhall, however, treat the fubjeft 
 more at large, under the article of vegetables. It will be 
 fufficient, at prefent, to produce a fingle example, which 
 inconteftably proves the exiftence of thofe harmonic Laws 
 of Nature : It. is this, that they fubfift even in places not 
 expofed to the view of the Sun. We always find, in the 
 cells of the mole, fragments of the bulbous root of the col- 
 chica, clofe by the neft of her young. Now, let any one 
 examine all the plants which ufually grow in our mead- 
 ows, and he will find none which forms more harmonies 
 and contrafts with the black colour of the mole, than the 
 white, impurpled, and lilach coloured flowers of the col- 
 chica. This plant, likewife, furnifties powerful means of 
 defence to the feeble mole againft her natural enemy, the 
 dog, who is continually hunting after her in the meadows ; 
 for he is poifoned if he eats it. For this reafon, the coi- 
 chica has obtained the trivial name of dogbane. The 
 mole, then, finds a fupply of food for her neceflities, and a 
 prote6lion againft her enemies, in the colchica, as the bull- 
 finch does in the white thorn. Such harmonies are not 
 only very agreeable obJe6is of fpeculation, but may be 
 turned to very good praftical account ; for, from what 
 has juft been fuggefted, it will follow, that if you wilh t& 
 allure the bullfinch to your fhrubbery, you have only to 
 plant the white thorn ; and if you would clear your 
 grounds of the mole, exterminate the bulbs of the col- 
 chica. 
 
 If to each plant are added its elementary harmonies, 
 fuch as thofe of the feafon when it appears ; of tlie foil 
 
116 A VINDICATION of 
 
 and fituation in Avbich it vegetates ; the efFe61s of the 
 dews, and of the reflexes of the light on its foliage ; the 
 movements which it undergoes from the aftion of the 
 winds ; its contrails and confonances with other plants, 
 ?md with the quadrupeds, the birds, and the infefts, which 
 are peculiar to it ; and you will perceive a delightful con-, 
 cert formed all around, the harmonies of which are ftill 
 unknown to us. It is only, however, by purfuing this 
 track, that we fhall be enabled to obtain a glimpfe of the 
 immenfe and magnificent edifice of Nature. I would earn- 
 cftly intreat Naturalifts, perfons fond of gardening, Paint- 
 ers, nay, Poets likewife, thus to profecute their ftudies, 
 and to make frequent draughts from this perennial fpring 
 of tafte and of delight. They will behold new worlds 
 arifing into view, and, without removing from their oWn 
 Horizon, they will make difcoveries infinitely more curi- 
 ous than thofe which are contained in our books and cab- 
 inets, where the produ6lions of the Univerfe are frittered 
 away, and disjoined, in the petty drawers of our mechani- 
 cal fyflems. 
 
 I know not, at prefent, what name I ougiit to give to 
 the conformities which thofe particular concerts have 
 with Man. Certain it undoubtedly is, that there is no 
 Work of Nature but what ftrengthens its particular con- 
 cert, or, if you will, its natural charafter, by the habita- 
 tion of Man; and which does not communicate, in its 
 turn, to the habitation of Man, fome expreflion of gra»- 
 deur, of gaiety, of terror, or of majefty. There is no 
 verdant mead but what is rendered more cheerful by a 
 dance of fhepherdeffes and their fwains ; and no tempeft 
 but what acquires additional horror from the fhipwreck 
 of a veflel. Nature raiffes the phyfical charafter of her 
 Works to a fublime moral charafter, by collefting them 
 around mankind. This is not the place to defcant at large 
 on the new order of fentiments hereby fuggefted. I fatis- 
 fy myfelf, at prefent, with obferving, thqt {he not only 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 117 
 
 employs particular concerts to exprefs, in detail, the char- 
 a6i:ers of her Works; but when fhe means to exprefs thefe 
 fame characters on the great fcale, (he combines a multi- 
 tude of harmonies and of contrails of the fame kind, in 
 order to form of them one great general concert, which 
 has only a fmgle expreffion, let the field of reprefentation 
 be ever fo extenfive. 
 
 Thus, for example, in order to exprefs the maleficent 
 charafter of a venomous plant, fhe combines in it clafh- 
 ing oppofitions of the forms and colours which are the in- 
 dications of that maleficence ; fuch as retreating and brift* 
 ly forms, livid colours, dark greens, with white and black 
 fpots, virulent fmells....But when {he means to charac^ 
 terize a whole diffrift that is unwholefome, fhe collefts a 
 multitude of fimilar diffonances. The air is loaded with 
 thick fogs, the turbid waters exhale only naufeous fmells, 
 no vegetable thrives on the putrid foil but fuch as are 
 difgufting, the dracunculus, for inftance, the flower ot 
 which exhibits the form, the colour, and the fmeil of an 
 ulcer. If any tree arifes in the cloudy atmofphere, it is 
 the yew only, whofe red and fmoky trunk has the appear- 
 ance of having pafled through the fire, and whofe gloomy 
 foliage ferves as an afylum only to owls. If any other 
 animal is to be found feeking a retreat under its lurid 
 fhade, it is the blood coloured centipede, or the toad 
 crawling along the humid and rotten ground. By thefe, 
 or fimilar figns. Nature fearer Man away from noxious 
 fituations. 
 
 If fhe intends to give him, at fea, the fignal of an im- 
 pending tempeft ; as fhe has oppofed, in ferocious animals, 
 the fiery glare of the eyes to the thicknefs of the eye- 
 brows ; the ftripes and fpots with which they are marked 
 to the yellow colour of their fkin, and the flillnefs of their 
 movements to the thundering noife of their voices ; fhe 
 collefts, in like manner, in the fky, and on the deep, a 
 multitude of clafhing oppofitions, wliich, in concert, an- 
 »Qunce approaching deyafi^tion. Dark clouds, fwcep 
 
ii8 A VINDICATION or 
 
 through the air in the horrible forms of dragons. Here 
 and there the pale fire of lightning burfts, from the gloom, 
 the noife of the thunder, with which their dark womb is 
 impregnated, rcfounds like the roaring of the ccleflial li- 
 on. The Orb of Day, who can fcarcely render himfelf 
 vifible through their rainy and multiplied veils, emits 
 Jong radiations of a wau and fickly light. The leaden 
 farface of the Ocean links and fwells into broad white 
 foaming furges. A hollow murmuring noife feems to if- 
 fue from thofe threatening billows. The black {hallows 
 whiten at a diftance, with horrid founds, from time to 
 time, interrupted by ominous filence. The Sea, which 
 alternately covers and reveals them, difplays to the light 
 of day their cavernous foundations. The Norwegian 
 lom perches on ooe of their craggy points, uttering la- 
 mentable cries, like tliofe of a drowning man. The fea 
 ofpray rifes aloft , in the air, and not daring to commit 
 herfdf to the impetuofity of the winds, ftruggles, with a 
 plaintive fcreaming voice, againil the tempefl, which 
 bends back her flubborn wings. The black procellaria 
 flutters about, grazing the foam of the waves, and feeks, 
 in the cavity of their moving valleys, a ftielter from the 
 fuiy of the winds. I' this fmall and feeble bird happens 
 to perceive a fiiip in the midft of the Sea, he flees for 
 refuge along her fide, and, as a reward for the proteftion 
 which he folicits, announces the tempell to the mariner 
 before it overtakes him. 
 
 Nature uniformly proportions the figns of deftruftion 
 to the magnitude of the danger. Thus, for ejcample, the 
 figns of tempeft off the Cape of Good Hope far exceed 
 thofe on our eoafls. The celebrated Vernet^ who has ex- 
 hibited fo many terrifying rep re fen tat ions of the Sea, is 
 far from having depifted all the horrors of the watery el- 
 ement. Every ftorm has its peculiar charaftcr in every 
 prjrticular latitude. Far different are the ftoritis off the 
 Cape of Good Hope, from thofe off Gape Horn ; thofe of 
 the Bill lie from thofe of the Mediterranean ; thofe on the 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ' tig 
 
 banks of Newfoundland from thofe on the coaft of Afri- 
 ca. They farther differ, according to the feafon of the 
 year, and even according to the hour ot the day. Thofe 
 of Summer are very unlike thofe of Vv^inter ; and widely 
 different is the fpeftacle of an enraged fea, fhining at noon 
 day under the rays of the Sun, and that of the fame fea 
 illuminated, at the midnight hour, by a fingle flafh of 
 lightning. But you perceive, in all, the clafhing oppo- 
 Ctions of which 1 have made mention. 
 
 I have remarked one thing, in the tempeRs ofF the 
 Cape of Good Hope, which ftrikingly fupports all that 
 1 have hitherto advanced, refpe61ing the principles of 
 difcord and harmony ; amd which may, perhaps, fuggefl 
 profound and ufeful reflexion to fome one of greater a- 
 bility than! can pretend to. It is this. That Nature fre- 
 quently accompanies the figns of the diforder which agi- 
 tates the Qcean, with agreeable expreflions of harmony, 
 that ferve only to redouble the horror of the fcene. 
 
 Thus, for example, in two different florms to which I 
 was expofed in thofe feas, I did not lee the face of Heav- 
 en obfcured by dark clouds, nor thefe clouds furrovved by 
 alternate flafhes of lightning, nor a fea muddy and lead 
 coloured, as in the tempefts of our climates. The fky, 
 on the contrary, presented a fine blue, and the fea a beau- 
 tiful azure ; there were no other clouds hovering in the 
 air, but fraall aggregations of a ruddy vapor, dark toward 
 the centre, and illuminated, about the extremities, w^ith 
 the yellow luflre of ' burnifhed brafs. They took their 
 departure from a fingle point i.n the Hojizon, and travel- 
 led acrofs the Heavens with the rapidity of a bird flying. 
 When the thunder fhivered in pieces our mainmaR, in 
 the middle of the night, it did not roll ; and emitted on- 
 ly a crack refembling that of a cannon, (hot off clofe by 
 us. Two other thunderclaps, which had preceded this 
 one, were exaftly fimiilar. This was in the month of 
 June, which is midwinter at the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
tad A VINDICATION ot 
 
 I was caugVit in another ftorni, when doubling the Cap^, 
 on my return, in the month of January, which is mid- 
 fummer in that part of the world. The ground of the 
 Heavens was blue, as in the firft, and not above five or 
 fix clouds wer6 perceptible above the Horizon ; but each 
 of them, white, black, cavernous, and of an enormous 
 magnitude, refembled a portion of the Alps fufpended in 
 the air. This laft was much lefs violent than the former, 
 with its fmall ruddy vapours. In both, the fea was of the 
 fame beautiful azure colour with the fky ; and, on the 
 curling crefts of the vaft billows, rufhing like fo many 
 cafcades, were formed bright coloured rainbows. 
 
 Thefe tempcfts, in the full blaze of light, are inexpref- 
 fiblv tremendous. The foul Hands aghaft at fight of the 
 indications of tranquillity converted into figns of ftorm ; 
 the unclouded azure in the Heavens, and the rainbow 
 playing upon the waves. The principles of harmony ap- 
 peared to be completely inverted. Nature feemed to have 
 put on a character of perfidioufncfs, and to conceal fury 
 under the mafk of benevolence. 
 
 The fhallows of thofe Latitudes exhibit fimilar contrafls. 
 John Hugo de Linfchotteriy who faw thofe of the Jewefs, 
 at no great diftance, in the Mofambique channel, and up- 
 on which he was in extreme danger of making fhipwreck, 
 informs us, that they have a moll hideous afpeft, being 
 black, white and green. Thus Nature increafes the char- 
 aaers of terror, by intermingling with them certain agree* 
 able exprcfiions. 
 
 There is a farther obfervation, of effential importance, 
 to be made in this place ; namely, that in thofe awful 
 fcenes of danger and affright, the terrible is clofe upon 
 you, and the agreeable is removed to an immenfe diftance; 
 tumult is in the feas, and ferenity in the fky. A prodig- 
 ious extcnfion is thus given to the fentiment of diforder; 
 for there is no apparent boundary fet ta tempefts of this 
 fort. All depends on the firft impulfion which we under- 
 go. The fentiment of infinity that is within us, an4 
 
DIVINE IPR'OVIDENCE. 12 i 
 
 which is ever making new efforts' to propagate itfelf far- 
 ther afiid farther, leeks to make its efcape from the phyfic- 
 al evil if herewith it is furrounded ; biit repelled, in fome 
 fort, by the ferenity of the treacherous Horizon, falls back 
 upon itfel'f, anB Undergoes a-Teverer pang, under the pref- 
 fure of prefent painful affeclions, becaufe their fource has 
 the appearance of being invariable. 
 
 Stich i« the Giant of Storms', ftationed by Nature at the 
 entrance of the Seas of India, and To well delineated by the 
 pericil oi Ca?noens. Nature, in our climates, produces 
 t[|iute contrary efFefts, for during Winter, flie redoubles 
 our repofe within doors, by covering the face of Heaven 
 with dark and rainy clouds. All depends, as I have ju ft 
 faid, oh'the firft impuliion which the foul receives. Lu- 
 cretius is, undoubtedly, right in faving, that our pleafurc 
 and'feciirity, on fhore, are greatly increafed by the fight of 
 ailorm:at fea. 
 
 A Painter, accordingly, who wiOied to ftrengthen, in a 
 pifture, the efFe6l of a beautiful landfcape, and the felicity 
 t)f its inhabitants, would oi^iy have to reprefent, in the 
 back grotind, a veffel atthe-mercy of the winds, and of 
 the raging deep : The happiiiefs of the Ihepherds would, 
 in this cafe, be powerfully he^htened by contraft with the 
 diftrefs of the mariners. But if it were his intention, on 
 the contrar)',' to augment the horrors of a tempeft, it would 
 be neceffai^-for him to place, in oppofition to the diftrefs 
 of the mariners, the felicity of the fhepherds ; and, for 
 this effe6l, the veffel muft be introduced between the fpec- 
 tator and. the landfcape. The firft fentiment depends on 
 the firft impulfion ; and the ground contrafting with the 
 fcene, is To far from being a deviation from Nature, that 
 the leading objfeft is imprefted witli additional energy, by 
 being thrown back upon itfelf. Thus, it is poffible, with 
 the fame objefis placed differently, to produce direftly op- 
 pofite effe6ts; 
 
 If Nature, by introducing certain agreeable harmonies 
 into fcenes of difcord, redoubles their confufign, fuch as 
 
 VGL. II, Q 
 
122 A VIxMDlCATlON or 
 
 the green colour of the rocks of the Jewefs, or the azurtf, 
 in the tempefts off the Cape, fhe frequently throws in a 
 difcordance, in concerts the moft delightful, for the pur- 
 pofe of heightening the pleafurable effeft. Thus, a noify 
 waterfall precipitating itfelf into a tranquil vaHey • or a 
 rugged and dufky rock afcending in the midft of a ver- 
 dant plain, enhances the beauty of a landfcape. Thus 
 a mole on a beautiful face gives it additional vivacity. 
 Skilful Artifts have fometiraes happily imitated thofe 
 harmonic contrafts. Callot, when he intended to aggra- 
 vate the horror of his infernal fcenery, introduced, amidfl 
 his demons, the head of a fine woman on the carcafs o£ 
 an animal. On the contrary, the moft renowned Grecian 
 Painters, in order to render Venus more interefting, rep- 
 refented her with a flight fquint in her eyes. 
 
 Nature employs offenfive contrafts only for the purpofc 
 of chafing Man away from lome perilous fituation. Iji. 
 all the reft of her Works, fhe employs only harmonic 
 mediums. 1 muft not involve myfelf in the examination 
 of their different concerts ; it is a fubje61; whofe riches are 
 inexhauftible. All that could be expefted from my fcanty 
 fund was the indication of a few of their principles. I 
 fhall endeavour, however, to trace a flight fketch of the 
 manner in which fhe harmonizes the common fields of 
 our harvefts, thefe, being the produdion of human agri- 
 culture, feem abandoned to the monotony that character- 
 izes moft of the Works of Man. • • :' 
 
 Firft of all, it is remarkable, that we here .find that 
 charming ftiade of green, produced by the. alliance of the 
 two primordial oppofite colours, \thich are the yellow 
 and the blue. This harmonic colour decompounds itfelt, 
 in its turn, by another metamorphofis, toward the time of 
 the harveft, into the three primordial colours, namely, . 
 the yellow of the ripening corn, the red of the wild pop- t 
 py, and tlic azure of the blue bottle. Thefe two plants 
 are found intermingled with the ftanding c<Jrn, all over 
 Europe, let the farmer take what pains he may in fifting. 
 
DlVlNE PROVIDENCE. 123 
 
 l4ie grain; and weeding bis field. They form, by their 
 harmony, a very rich purple tint, which rifes admirably 
 on the yellow ground of the cornfield. 
 
 If you ftudy thefe two plants feparately, you will find 
 between them a variety of particular contrails ; for the 
 blue bottle has narrow and flender leaves ; but thofe of the 
 poppy are broad, with deep incifions. The blue bottle 
 has the corolla of its flowers radiating, and of a delicate 
 azure ; but thofe of the poppy are large and of a deep 
 red. The blue bottle throws out divergent ftalks ; 
 but thofe of the poppy are ftraight. We find, be- 
 fides, among the corn, the cockle, or corn rofe, which 
 rifes to the height of the expanded ear, with handfome 
 purple flowers, in form of a trumpet ; and the convolvu- 
 lus, with a flefli coloured flower, crawling up along the 
 reeds, and furrounding them with verdure, like a thyrfus. 
 There is a great variety of other vegetables ufually to be 
 found growing among corn, and forming contrails the 
 moft agreeable, moft of them exhale the fweeteft per- 
 fumes ; and, when agitated by the Summer's breeze, you 
 woiild be difpofed, from their undulations, to imagine the 
 whole a fea of verdure enamelled with flowers. Add to 
 all the reft a gentle ruftling of the ears againft each other, 
 moft agreeably foothing, which, by its foft murmuring 
 found, invites to fleep. 
 
 Thefe lovely forefts of vegetable beauty are not defti- 
 tute of inhabitants. You fee buftling about under their 
 fliade, the green coated fcarab, ftreaked with gold, and 
 the monoceros, of the colour of burnt coffee. This lall 
 infefl; takes delight in a hillock of horfe dung, and is fur- 
 niflied with a ploughfhare on his head, with which he re- 
 moves the ground like a labourer. There are, befides, c^ 
 variety of charming contrafts in the bees and the butter- 
 flies, which are attrafted by the flowers of the cornfield, 
 and in the manners of the birds which inhabit them. The 
 far travelled fwallow is continually fkimming al.ong their 
 furfaee, undulating like the waters of a lake; whereas 
 
124 A VINDICATION of 
 
 the ftationary lark towers abave the them, in a perpen- 
 dicLilar dire6lion, withiin fight of her neft. The domeftl- 
 Gated partridge, and tranfitory (j^uail, there find a fituation 
 equally favourable to both, for rearing their young. The 
 hare frequently burrows in their neighbourhood, and qui- 
 etly nibbles the wild thiftle. 
 
 Thefc animals have, with Man, relations of utility, from 
 their fruitfulnefs and their furs. It is remarkable, that 
 they are to be found over all the corn diftrifts of Europe,, 
 and that their fpecies are varied, according to all the va- 
 riety of human habitation ; for there are different fpecies 
 of quails, partridges, larks, fwallows and hares, adapted 
 to the plains, to the mountains, to the heaths, to the 
 meadows, to the forefts and to the rocks. 
 
 As to the corn plant itfelf, it has relations innumera- 
 ble with the wants of Man, and of his domeftic animals. 
 It is neither too high nor too low for his ftature. It h 
 eafily handled and reaped. It furnilhes grain to his poul- 
 try, bran to his pigs, forage and Htter to his black cattle 
 and his horfcs. Every plant that grows in his cornfield 
 pofTeffes virtues particularly adapted to the maladies inci- 
 dent to the condition of the labouring man. l^ie poppy 
 is a cure for the pleurify ; it procures fleep ; it flops 
 hemorrhages and fpitting of blood. The blue bottle is a 
 diuretic; it is vulnei-ary, cordial, and cooling; it is an an- 
 tidote to the flings of venemous infefts, and a remedy for 
 inflammation of the eyes. Thus the hufbandman finds all 
 needful pharmacy, in the field which he cultivates. 
 
 The culture of this flafF of life difclofes to him many 
 other agreeable concerts with his fleeting exi-flence. The 
 dire6lion of its fhadow informs him of the hour of the 
 day ; from its progrcfTive growth he learns the rapid flight 
 of the feafons : He reckotis the flux of his own fugitive 
 years, by the fucceffions of the guiltlefs harvefls which 
 he has reaped. He is haunted with no apprehenfion, like 
 the inhabitants of great cities, of conjugal infidelity, or of 
 a* too numerous pofttrity. His labours are always lurpafT-. 
 
DlvmE PROVIDENCE. 12^ 
 
 td by the benefits of Nature. When the Sun gets to the 
 {ign of Virgo, he fummons his kindred, he invites his 
 neighbours, and marches at their head, by the dawning of 
 the day, with fickle in hand, to the ripened field. Hi$ 
 heart exults with joy as he binds up the fwelling fh€a\'e£, 
 while his children dance around them, crowned with gar- 
 lands of blue bottles and wild poppies. Their harmlefs 
 play recalls to his memory the amufements of his own ear- 
 ly days, and of his virtuous anceflors, whom he hopes, at 
 length, to rejoin in a better and happier World. The 
 fight of his copious harvefl demonftrates to him that 
 there is a GOD ; and every return of that joyous feafon, 
 bringing to his recollection the delicious eras of his pafi 
 exiftence, infpires him with gratitude to the Great Being 
 who has united the tranhent fociety of men, by an eternal 
 chain of bleflings. 
 
 Ye flowery meadows, ye majellic, murmuring forefls, 
 ye mofTy fountains, ye defert rocks, frequented bv the 
 dove alpne, ye enchanting folitud©s, which charm by your 
 ineffable concerts ; happy is the man who fhall be per- 
 mitted to unveil your hidden beauties ! but flill happier 
 far is he who fhall have it in his power calmly to enjoy 
 them in the inheritance of his forefathers I 
 
 OF SOME OTHER LAWS OF NATURE, HITERTO 
 IMPERFECTLY KNOVvN. 
 
 There are, befides thofe which have been mentioned, 
 fome phyfical Laws, not hitherto profoundly invert igated, 
 though we have had a glimmering of them, and made them 
 the frequent fubjeft of converfation. Such is the Law of 
 a^traftion. It has been acknowledged in the planets, and 
 in fome metals, as in iron and the loadftone, in gold and 
 mercury. I believe attraHion to be common to all met- 
 als, and even to all foflals ; but tluit it afts, in each oi 
 
126 A VINDICATION of 
 
 them, in particular circumftances, which have not hithert# 
 been obferved, and afcertained. Each of the metals, per- 
 haps, may have a difpofition to turn toward different 
 points of the Earth, as magnetic iron points toward the 
 North, and toward places where there are mines of iron. 
 It would probably be neceffary, in order to afcertain this 
 by experiment, that each metal fhould be armed with its 
 proper attraftion ; this takes place, as I think, when it is 
 united to its contrary. 
 
 How do we know, whether a needle of gold, rubbed 
 with mercury, might not have attraftive poles, as a needle 
 of fteel has, when rubbed with the magnet ? Thus pre- 
 pared, or in fome other way adapted to its nature, it might 
 pofTibly indicate the places which contain mines of that 
 rich metal. Perhaps it might determine the general points 
 of dire8;ion to the Eafl or to the Weft, which might fervc 
 as an indication of the Longitudes, more fteadily than the 
 variations of the magnetic needle. 
 
 If there be a point at the Pole, on which the Globe 
 feems to re^'oive, there may, poflibly, be one under the 
 Equator, from which its rotatory motion has commenced, 
 ?nd which may have determined its motion of rotation. 
 It is very remarkable, for example, that all feas are filled 
 with univalve fhell fifh, of an infinity of very different 
 fpecies, which all have their furrounding fpirals, in an in- 
 creafing progreffion, and in one and the fame direftion, 
 that is, from left to right, like the motion of the Globe, 
 when the mouth of the fhell is turned northward, with 
 the bafe to the ground. There is only a very fmall num- 
 ber of fpecies which may beconfidcred as exceptions, and 
 which have, ibr this very reafon, been denominated unique 
 (fingular, or extrordinary.) The fpirals of thefe circu- 
 late from right to left. 
 
 A direction fo general, and exceptions, fo particular in 
 univalve fhell fifh, undoubtedly have their caufes in Na- 
 ture, and their epochas, in the unknown ages when their 
 g^rms were created. It is impoffible that they fhouii^ 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. lifey 
 
 proceed from the aftual influence of the Sun, who afts on 
 them in a thoufand different afpefts. Can they have been 
 tjiiis direfted in a conformity to fome general Current of 
 the Ocean, or to fome unknown attraftion of the Earth, 
 toward the North or the South, toward the Eafl or the 
 Weft ? Thefe relations will appear ftrange, and perhaps 
 frivolous, to our men of Science ; but every thing in Na-, 
 ture is a feries of concatenation. A flight obfervation 
 here, in many cafes, leads to important difcovery. A 
 fmall plat€ of iron turning toward the North, guides 21 
 whole Navy through the deferts of the Ocean ; and a 
 reed pf an unknown fpecies, thrown on the coaft of the 
 Azores, fuggefted to Chriftopher Columbus the exiftence 
 uf a weftern World. 
 
 Whatever may be in this, certain it is, that there exifls 
 a great number of thofe particular points of attra£lion, 
 fcattered over the Earth, fuch as the matrices which ren- 
 ovate the mines of metals, by attracting to themfelves the 
 metallic parts difperfed in the elements. It is by means 
 of attraftive matrices, that thofe mines, are inexhauftible, 
 as has been remarked in many place?, among others, in 
 the Ifle of Elba, fituated in the Mediterranean. This lit- 
 tle ifland is entirely a mine of iron, from which had been 
 already extrafted, in the time of Pliny^ an immenfe quan- 
 tity of that metal, without its being perceptible, as he tells 
 us, that it was in the fmalleft degree diminiflied. Metals 
 have, befides, other attra6lions ; and if I might prefume 
 to deliver my opinion by the way, I confider thefe them- 
 felves as the principal matrices of all foflil bodies, and as 
 the ever aftive means employed by Nature tor repairing 
 the mountains and the rocks, which the aftion of the oth- 
 er elements, but, efpeclally, the injudicious labours of 
 men, have an inceflant tendency to impair. 
 
 I fhall here remark, on the fubjecl of mines of gold, 
 that they are placed, as well as thofe of all metals, not on- 
 ly on the mofl; elevated part «f Continents, but in icy 
 ntountains. 
 
ftii A ViND-ICA-TrON OF 
 
 The celebrated gold mines of Peru, and of ChiH, are, 
 It i» well krtown, in- the Gordeliers. The gold mines, of 
 Mexico are fituated irrthe vicinity of Mount St. Martha^- 
 which: is covered with fnow ail the year round. The riv^ 
 ers of^ Europe, which wafh down particles of gold along 
 their fliores, ilTue from icy mountains* The Po, in Italy^ 
 has its fource in thofe of Piedmont. But without ^«it-^ 
 ting France, we reckon ten greater or ftnallef rivers, whioh^' 
 roll along gold duft; intermingled with their fands, and' 
 which have all of them their origin in mountains of icei 
 vSuch isthc Riiine, from Strafburg to Philipfburg ; the 
 Rhone, in the Pais de Gex ; the Doux, in Tranche Comte, 
 which three all take their rife in the icy mountains of 
 Switzerland. The Cefe and the Gardon defcend from' 
 thofe of the Cevcnnes. The Ariege, in the Pais de Foi-x ; 
 the Garonne, in the vicinity of TholouCe ; the Salat, in 
 the Gounty de Conferans ; and the rivulets of Ferriet 
 and Benague^, all take their rife in the icy mountains of 
 the Pyrennees. 
 
 Tliis obferv^tion may be extended^ I believe, to all the 
 gold mines in the World, even to thofe of Atrica, fu-ch^ 
 of whofe rivers as wafh down the greateft quantities of^ 
 gold dull, the Senegal, for inftance, defcend ffora''tll^' 
 mountains of the Moon. ■ '/ ' ' • ' - 
 
 To this it may be objefted, that gold v/as foi-MfeHy^ 
 found in Europe, in places where there were no icy mbtm^- 
 tains ; nay, that fome has been picked up on the furlacci 
 of the ground, as in Brafil ; and not many years ago,* that- 
 there was found an ingot, or nwfs, of feveral potirrds^ 
 weight, on the bank of a river in the diftri£^t of- Cin^\6^i'' 
 in New Mexico. But, if I might venture to hazard a cbii^ • 
 jefture, refpefting the origin of this gold, fcaUered abdut^ 
 on the furface of the earth, in the ancient Continent ot 
 Europe, and efpecially in that of the' New World ; I be- 
 lieve it to have proceeded from the total effufions ot the 
 ices of the mountains, which took place at the time ol 
 the Deluge; and that, as the fpoil> of the Ocean covc4pA 
 
iDlXriNE PROVIDENCE; 1^9 
 
 Hie weftern parts of Europe, that thofe of vegetable 
 earths were fpread over the ieafterh part 6f Afia, thofe of 
 minerals, from the mountains, were forced along other 
 countries, where their fragments were found, in the ear- 
 lier ages, in grains, and even in larger mafles. 
 
 This much i's certain, that when Chrijlopher "Colwnhus 
 difcovered the Lucayb and Antilles iflands, he found a- 
 mong thofe iflahders abundance of gold of a bafe alloy, 
 the produce of the trafEck which they carried on with the 
 inhabitants of the Continent ; but they had no mines 
 within their own territdry, notwithftahding the prejudice 
 then entertained, and under which many labour to this 
 day, that the Sun formed this precious metal in the earth 
 of thfe Torrid Zone. For my own part, I find, as I hav6 
 juft obferved, gold much more common in the vicinity of 
 icy mountains, whatever their Latitude may be ; and t 
 conjeaure, from analogy, that there muft be very rich 
 mines of it in the North. It is extremely probable, that 
 the waters of the Deluge hurled along confiderable por- 
 tions of that metal to the northern countries. 
 
 We read, I think, in the Book of Job, the Arabian, 
 this remarkable expreflion ; " Gold cometh from the 
 North."* Certaiii it is, that the firft commerce of India 
 with Europe was carried on by the North, as has been 
 clearly demonftrated by the Baron de Stralenberg, 2l 
 Swedifh exile, after the battle of Pultowa, in Siberia, of 
 which he has given a very intelligent arid accurate defcrip- 
 tion. He fays, that it is ftill poflible to purfue, by evi- 
 dent traces, the ti'ack bf the ancient Indians along the 
 
 * This is not entirely of a piece with our AutKoi 's ufual accuracy. It 
 IS written, indeed, in the Book of Job, chap. xxXvii. ver. g. ♦' Cold cometU 
 •• out of the North ;" and ver. zz. •' Fair v<eathcr cometh out of the 
 ** North :" but no where in Scripture, fo far as I know, is this affirmed of 
 Gold. St. Pierre feems to have quoted from general and indiftinft recol- 
 kftion ; happy, no doubt, tO have, as he thought, a text from the Bible to 
 fupport his conjeaure. But notwithftanding this defeft, his reafoning is 
 plaufible, and the human teftimony which he adduces refpeaable. 
 
 VOL. II. R 
 
i^o A VINDICATION of 
 
 river of Petzora, which empties itfelf into the White Sedi. 
 On its banks, in various places, ace found many of their 
 tombs, which contain, fome of them, manufcripts on filk 
 fluffs, in the language of Thibet ; and there are percepti- 
 ble, on the rocks along its fhores, charafters which they 
 have traced upon them, in a red which cannot be effaced. 
 From this river they forced their way through the lakes, 
 by means of leathern boats, to the Baltic ; or coafled a- 
 long the northern and weftern lliores of Europe. 
 
 This track was known to the Indians, even from the 
 time of the ancient Romans; for Cornelius Nepos relates, 
 that a King of the Suevi made a prefent to Metellus Celer 
 of two Indians, who had been thrown, by ilrefs of weather, 
 with their leathern canoe, on the coafts adjacent to the 
 mouth of the Elbe. It is not eafy to conceive what thofc 
 Indians, the inhabitants of a warm country, were going 
 in queft of, fo far to the North. What ufe could they 
 have made, in India, of the furs of Siberia ? It would ap- 
 pear they went thither in fearch of gold, which might then 
 be frequently difcoverable to the North, at the furface of 
 the earth. 
 
 Whatever may be in this, it is prefumable that, as 
 mines of gold are placed in the moft elevated regions of 
 the Continent, their matrices colleft, in the Atmofphere, 
 the volatilized particles of gold, which afcend thither with 
 the foffil and aquatic emanations, conveyed by the winds 
 from every quarter. But they exercife over men, attrac- 
 tions ilill much more powerful. 
 
 It would appear as if Nature, by burying the focufes 
 of this rich metal under the fnows, had intended to fence 
 it with ramparts ftill more inacceffible than the flinty bo- 
 fom of the rock, left the undifmayed ardor of human ava- 
 rice fhould, at length, deftroy them entirely. It has be- 
 come the moft powerful bond of fociety, and the perpet- 
 ual objeft of all the labours of a life fo rapidly hurrying 
 to a clofc. Alas ! Were Nature, at this day, to inflift 
 condign puniftiment on this infatiable thirft in the Na- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. igi 
 
 tions of Europe, for a metal fo ufelefs, as a real neceffary 
 t)f human life, (he has only to change the territory of fome 
 one of them into gold. Every other Nation would in- 
 flantly flock thither, and, in a little time, exterminate its 
 wretched inhabitants. The Peruvians and Mexicans ha\K 
 had the dreadful experience of this. 
 
 There are metals not fo highly prized, but much more 
 ufeful, the elementary attraftions of which might, perhaps, 
 procure us very important accomodations. 
 
 The peaks of the mountains, and their lengthened 
 crefts, are filled, as we have feen, with iron or copper, 
 intermingled with a vitreous body, of granite, or of nat- 
 ural cryftal, which attrafts the rains and the ftormy clouds, 
 like fo many real eleftric needles. There is not a feaman 
 but what has feen, a thoufand times, thofe peaks, and 
 thofe crefts, covered with a cloudy cap, gathered round 
 and round, and concealing them entirely from view, with- 
 out once fufpefting the caufe of this appearance. Our 
 Philofophers, on the other hand, deducing their conclu- 
 fions merely from the infpeftion of charts, have taken 
 thofe rocky protuberances for the wrecks of a primitive 
 earth, without giving themfelves any trouble about their 
 efFeas. 
 
 They ought to have obferved, that thofe metallic pyra- 
 mids and crefts, as well as moft mines of iron and copper, 
 are always to be found in elevated fituations, and at the 
 fource of all rivers, of which they are the primitive caufes, 
 by means of their attraftions. Their general inattention 
 to this fubjeft is thus only to be accounted for; feamen 
 obferve, and do not reafon ; and the learned reafon, but 
 do not obferve. Undoubtedly, had the experience of the 
 one been united to the fagacity of the other, prodigies oi 
 difcovery might have been expelled. 
 
 I am perfuaded that, in imitation of Nature, it might b 
 poffible for us to acquire the art of forming, by me ^ 
 ofeleftric ftones, artificial fountains, which fhould a* _^ 
 
 the rainy clouds in parched and dry fituations, as 
 
\2^^ 
 
 A VINDICATION OP 
 
 and rods of iron attraft thunder clouds. It is true, thjM 
 Prince§ muft be at the expenfe of fuch coftly and ufeful 
 experirnents ; but it is the way for them tp immortalize 
 their memory. The Pharaohs, who built the pyramids 
 of Egypt, would r;ot have drawn upon themfelves the 
 curfes of their fubjefts, as Pliny afTures us they did, for 
 their enormous and ufelefs labours, had they reared, amid ft 
 the fands of Upper Egypt, an eleftrical pyramid, which 
 might there have formed an artificial fountain. The Arab 
 who fhould refort thither, at this day, to quench his thirft, 
 ^vould ftili pronounce benec^iftions on names which, if wq 
 may believe the great Natural Hiftorian, had already funk 
 into oblivion, and ceafed to be mentioned, in his time. 
 
 For my own part, I think that feveral metals might be 
 proper for producing fimilar effefts. An officer of high 
 rank, in the fervice of the King of Pruffia, informed me 
 that, having remarked vapours to be attrafted by lead, he 
 had employed its attra6lion for drying the atmofphere of 
 a powder magazine. This magazine was conftru6ted under 
 ground, in the throat of a baftion, but had been rendered 
 of no ufe whatever, from its humidity. He ordered tp 
 line with a coat of lead the concave ceiling of the arch, 
 which was before planked over, where the gunpowder 
 was depofited in barrels : The vapours pf the vault col- 
 lefted in great drops, on the leaden roof, run off in ftream* 
 lets along the fides, and left the gunpowder barrels per- 
 feftly dry. 
 
 It is to be prefumed that every metal, and every fofljl, 
 has its peculiar repulfion as well as its attraftion ; for 
 thefe two Laws always go hand in hand. Contraries feek, 
 out each other. 
 
 There are, farther, a multitude of other harmonic Laws, 
 as yet undifcovercd ; fuch are the proportions of magni- 
 tudes, and of the durations of exiflence, in beings vegeta- 
 i^ive and fenfible, which differ exceedingly, though theit 
 nutriment and climates may be the fame. Man, while ytX 
 2i yo\uh, fees the dog, his companion and contemporar)^^ 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 133 
 
 die of old age ; and alfo the flieep, which he fondled when 
 9 lamb. Though the former lived at his own table, and 
 the other on the herbage of his meadow, neither the fidel- 
 ity of the one, nor the temperance of the other, was able 
 to prolong their days ; whereas animals which live only 
 on carrion and garbage, live for ages, as the crow. It is 
 impoflible to guide ourfelves in profecuting fuch refearch- 
 <es, any other way than by following the fpirit of conform- 
 ity, which is the bafis of our own reafon, as it is that of 
 the reafon of Nature. 
 
 By confulting this, we fhall find, that if fuch and fuch 
 a carnivorous animal is long lived, as the crow for in- 
 ilance, it is becaufe his fervices and his experience are 
 long neceffary for purifying the earth, in places whofe im- 
 purities are inceffantly renewing, and which are frequently 
 at great diftances from each other. If, on the contrary, 
 an innocent animal lives but a little while, it is becaufe 
 his flefh and his fkin are necelTary to Man. If the domef- 
 tic dog, by his death, frequently dififufes forrow over the 
 children of the family, whofe intimate friend and fellow 
 boarder he was, Nature, undoubtedly, intended to give 
 them, in the lofs of an animal fo worthy of the afFe6lions 
 and the regret of the heart of Man, the firft experience 
 of the privations with which human life is to be exercifed. 
 
 The duration of an animal's life is fometimes propor- 
 tioned to the duration of the vegetable on which it feeds. 
 A multitude of caterpillars are born, and die with the 
 leaves by which their tranfitory exiftence is fupported. 
 There are infers whofe being is limited to five hours ; 
 fuch is the ephemera. This fpecies of fly, about half as 
 large as the tip of the little finger, is produced from a 
 fluviatic grub, which is found particularly at the mouths 
 of rivers, clofe by the water's edge, in the mud, into 
 which it digs in queft of fubfiftence. This grub lives 
 three years, and at the termination of that period, about 
 Midfummer day, it is transformed, almoft inftantaneoufly, 
 into a fly, whicb comes intp the world at fix o'clock \a 
 
134 A VINDICATION Of 
 
 the evening, and dies about eleven at night. No longer 
 fpace of time is necelTary for copulation, and for depolit- 
 ing the eggs on the mud which the water has deferted. 
 
 It is very remarkable, that this infeft copulates, and 
 lays her eggs, precifely at the time of the year when the 
 tides are at the loweft, when the rivers difcover, at the 
 place of their difcharge, the greateft part of their channel 
 dry. Wings are then furnifhed, to enable her to go and 
 depofit her eggs in places which the waters forfake, and 
 to extend, in the capacity of a fly, the domain of her pof- 
 terity, at the time when, as a worm, her territory is moft 
 contracted. 1 have likewife remarked, in the microfcopic 
 drawing and diffeftions given of this infeft by the ingeni- 
 ous Thevenot^ in the laft parts of his colleftion, that in 
 her fly fl;ate, flie has neither interior nor exterior organs 
 of nutrition. They would have been entirely ufelefs to a 
 life of fuch tranfient duration. 
 
 Nature has made nothing in vain. It is not credible 
 that fhe fhould have created momentary lives, and beings 
 infinitely minute, to fill up imaginary chains of exiftence. 
 The Philofophers who afcribe to her thefe pretended plans 
 of univerfality, which are deftitute of every fhadow of 
 proof, and which make her defcend into the infinitely 
 fmall, for purpofes equally frivolous, would reprefent her 
 as a8ing fomewhat like a mother, who gives, as toys to 
 amufe her children, tiny coaches, and minute articles of 
 houfehold furniture, of no ufe in the world, but which 
 arc imitations ofdomefliic utenfils. 
 
 The averfions and the inftinfts of animals emanate from 
 Laws of a fuperior order, which we fhall never be able to 
 penetrate iiiio in this world ; but, fuppofmg thofe intimate 
 conformities to elude our refearches, they muil be refer- 
 red, like every other, to the general conformity of beings, 
 and cfpecially to that of Man. There is nothing fo lu- 
 minous in the ftudy of Nature, as to refer every thing 
 that exifts to the goodnefs of GOD, and to the demands, 
 of humaiiitv. This method of viewing objects not only 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. t^ 
 
 '<iifcovers to us a multitude of unknown laws, but it fets, 
 bounds to thofe which we do know, and which we be- 
 lieve to be uniyerfal. 
 
 If Nature, for example, were governed by the Laws of 
 attraftion only, according to the fuppofition of thofe who 
 have made it the bafis of fo many fyftems, every thing in 
 it would be in a ftate of reft. Bodies, tending toward one 
 common cen.Uej would there accumulate, and arrange 
 themfelves round it, in the ratio of their gravity. The 
 fubftances which compofe the Globe, would be fo much 
 heavier as they approached nearer to the centre, and thofe 
 which are at the furface, would all be reduced to a level. 
 The bafon of the Seas would be choked with the wrecks 
 of the Land ; and this magnificent architefture, formed of 
 harmonies fo various, would foon become an aquatic 
 Globe entirely. All bodies hurled downward by one com- 
 mon precipitation, would be condemned to an everlafting 
 immobility. 
 
 On the other hand, if the Law of proje6lion, which is 
 employed for explaining the motions of the heavenly bo- 
 dies, on the fuppofition that they have a tendency to fly 
 off in the tangent of the curve which they defcribe ; if, I 
 fay, this Law predominated, all bodies, not aftually adhe- 
 rent to the Earth, would be hurled from it, like Hones 
 from a fling : Our Globe itfelf, fubje61:ed to this Law, 
 would fly off from the Sun never to return. It would 
 fometimes traverfe, in its unbounded career, the fpaces of 
 immenfity, where no fl:ar would be perceptible during the 
 courfe of many ages ; fometimes, fwinging through regions 
 where chance might have collefted the matrices of Crea- 
 tion, it might pafs along amidft the elementary parts of 
 Suns, aggregated by the central Laws of attraftion, or 
 fcattered about in fparks and in rays, by thofe of projec- 
 tion. 
 
 But, on the fuppofition that thefe two contrary forces 
 were combined happily enough in favour of the Globe, 
 t« fix it, with its vortex, in a corner of the firmament, 
 
136 A VINDICATION or 
 
 where thefe forces fhould aft without dellroying thcm- 
 felves, it would prefent its Equator to the Sun with a$ 
 much regularity as it defcribes its anhual courfe tound 
 him. From thofe two conftant motions never could be 
 produced that other motion fo varied, by which it daily 
 inclines one of its Poles toward the Sun, till its axis has 
 formed, on the plane of its annual circle, an angle of twen- 
 ty three degrees and an half ; then that other retrograde 
 motion, by which it prefents to him, with equal regularity, 
 the oppofite Pole. Far from prefenting to him alternately 
 its Poles, in order that his fertilizing heat may, by turns, 
 melt their ices, it would retain them buried in eternal 
 night and Winter, with a part of the temperate Zones, 
 whereas the reft of its circumference would be burnt up 
 by the too conftant fires of the Tropics. 
 
 But if we fuppofe, together with thofe conftant Laws 
 of attraftion and projeftion, a third variable Law, which 
 gives to the Earth the movement that produces the fea- 
 fons, and a fourth, which gives it the diurnal motidn of 
 rotation round itfelf ; and that no one of thefe Laws, fo 
 oppofite, fhould ever furpafs the others, and, at laft, de- 
 termine it to obey but one fmgle impulfion ; it would be 
 impoflible to affirm, that they had determined the forms 
 and movements of the bodies which are on its furface. 
 Firft, the force of projeftion, or centrifugal, would not 
 have left upon it any one detached body. On the other 
 hand, the force of attraftion, or gravity, would not have 
 permitted the mountains to rife, and ftill lefs the metals, 
 which are the heavieft part of them, to be placed at their 
 fummits, where they are ufually found. 
 
 If we fuppofe that thofe- Laws are the ultimatum of 
 chance, and that they are fo combined, as to form, among 
 themfelvCvS, but one fmgle Law ; for the fame reafon that 
 they make the Earth move round the Sun, and the Moon 
 round the Earth, they ought to a6l in the fame manner on 
 the particular bodies which are at the furface of the 
 Globe. We ought to fee the rocks detached, the fruit$ 
 
DiVmE PROVIDENCE. 137 
 
 feparated from the trees, the animais which are not pro- 
 vided with claws turning round it in the air^ as we fee the 
 |)articles which compofe Saturn s ring turn round that 
 Planet. 
 
 It is the gravity, they repeat, which a6ls only at the fur- 
 face of the Globe, that hinders bodies to detach themfelves 
 from it. But if it there abforbs the other powers, Where- 
 fore, as we have already afked, did it permit the moun- 
 tains to rife ? How comes it that the centrifugal force 
 ifhould have been able to exalt, to a prodigious height, the 
 long ridge of the Cordeliers, while it has left immoveable 
 the volatile fcurf of fnow which covers them ? For what 
 reafon, if the a6lion of gravity is ftill univerfal, has it no 
 influence on the foft bodies of animals, when, fhut up in 
 the womb of the mother, or in the tgg^ they are in a ftate 
 of fluidity ? All the numerous progeny of the Earth, ani- 
 rnals and vegetables, ought to be rounded into balls, like 
 their mother. The weightieft parts of their bodies, at leaft, 
 ought to be fituated undermoft, efpecially in thofe which 
 poffefs felf motion ; on the contrary, they are frequenly 
 uppermoft, and fupported by limbs much lighter than the 
 reft of the animal, as in the cafe of the horfe and the ox. 
 Sometimes they are between the head and the feet, as in 
 the oftrich ; or at the extremity of the body, in the head, 
 as in the human fpecies. Others, fuch as the tortoife, are 
 flattened ; others, fuch as reptiles, are drawn out in form 
 of fpindles; all of thern, in a word, have forms infinitely 
 varied. 
 
 Vegetables themfelves, which feem entirely fubjefted 
 to the action of the elements, have configurations diverfi- 
 fied without end. But, How comes it that animals have 
 in themfelves the principles of fo many motions, fo en- 
 tirely different ? Wherefore has not gravity nailed them 
 down to the furface of the Earth ? They ought to crawl 
 along it at moft. How comes it to pafs, that the Laws 
 which regulate the courfe of the Stars ; thofe Laws whofe 
 influence has, in modern times, been made to extend even 
 
 VOL. II. s 
 
13B A VINDICATION Of 
 
 to the operations of the human foul, fhould permit the 
 birds to rife into the air, and fly as they pleafe to the 
 Weil, to the North, to the South, notwithflanding the u- 
 nited powers of the attraftion, and of the projeftion of the 
 GJobe ? 
 
 It is conformity, adaptation to ufc, which has regulated 
 thofe Laws, and which has generalized, or fufpended 
 their efFeSs, in fubordination to the neceflities of fenfible 
 ]>eings. Though Nature empla}'s an infinity of means, 
 fhe permits Man to know only the end which fhe has in 
 view. Her Works are fubjefted to rapid didolutions ; 
 but fhe always fuffers him to perceive the immortal con- 
 fiflency of her plans. It is on this flie wiflies to fix his 
 heart and mind. She aims not at rendering Man ingeni- 
 ous and proud ; her objeft is to render him good and hap- 
 py. She univerfally mitigates the evils which are necefTa- 
 ry ; and univerfally multiplies bleflings in many cafes 
 fuperfluous. In her harmonies, formed of contraries, fhe 
 has oppofed the pmpire of death to that of life ; but life 
 endures for a whole age, and death only an inftant. She 
 allows Man long to enjoy theexpanfions of beings, fo de- 
 lightful to behold ; but conceals from him, with a precau- 
 tion truly maternal, their tranfient ftates of dilTolution. 
 
 If an animal dies ; if plants are decompounded in a mo- 
 rafs, putrid emanations, and reptiles of a difgufting form, 
 chafe us away from them. An infinite number of fecon- 
 dary beings arc created for the purpofe of haftening for- 
 ward the decompofitions. If cavernous mountains and 
 rocks prefent appearances of ruin ; owls, birds of prey, 
 the ferocious animals, which have made them their re- 
 treat, keep us at a diftance from them. Nature drives far 
 from us the fpeftacles and theminifters of deftruftion, and 
 allures us to her harmonics. She multiplies them, in fub- 
 fervicncy to our neccflities, far beyond the Laws w^hich 
 Ihe fccms to have prefcribed to herfelf, and beyond the 
 meafure which we had reafon to expeft* It is thus that 
 the dry and barren rocks repeat, by their echos, the mur 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 139 
 
 muring found of the waters and of the forefts ; and that 
 the plane furfaces of the waters, which have neither for- 
 efls nor hills, reprefent their colours and forms bv reflect- 
 ing them. 
 
 From a profufion of this unbounded benevolence of 
 Nature it is, that the aclion of the Sun is multiplied 
 ■\vherever it was moft neceffary ; and is mitigated in all 
 the places where it would have been hurtful. Firft, the 
 Sun is five or fix days longer in our northern Hemifphere, 
 becaufe that Hemifphere contains the greateft part of the 
 Continents, and is the mioft ijihabited. His difk appears 
 in it before he rifes, and after he is fet; which, added to 
 its twilights, confiderably increafes the natural length of 
 our days. The colder that it is, the farther does the re- 
 fraflion of his rays extend. This is the reafon that it is 
 greater in the morning than in the evening, in Winter 
 than in Summer, and at the beginning of Spring than at 
 the beginning of Autumn, 
 
 When the Orb of Day has left us, during the night 
 feafon, the Moon appears, to refleft his light upon us, 
 ■with varieties in her phafes which have relations, hitherto 
 unknown, to a great number of fpecies of animals, and ef- 
 pecially of fifiies, which travel only in the night time, at 
 the epochas which flie indicates to them. The farther 
 that the Sun withdraws from one Pole, the more are his 
 rays refrafted there. But when he has entirely abandon- 
 ed it, then it is that his light is fupplied in a moll won- 
 derful manner. Firft, the Moon, by a movement alto- 
 gether incomprehenfible, goes to replace him there, and 
 appears perpetually above the Horizon, without fetting, 
 as was obferved in the year 1596, at Nova Zernbla, by 
 the unfortunate Dutchmen who wintered there, in the ;^'6tli 
 degree of North Latitude. 
 
 It is in tliofc dreadful climates, that Nature multiplies 
 her refources, in order to befiow on fenfible beings the 
 benefits of light and heat. The Heavens are there illu- 
 minated with ihc aurora h>ral?s, \>'hichd?ins up to vhf 
 
440 A VINDICATION of 
 
 very zenith rays of moving light, gold coloured, white 
 and red. The Poles fparkle with ftars more luminous 
 than thofe which appear in the reft of the firmament. 
 The fnows which cover the ground fhelter part of the 
 plants, and, by their luftre, difpel the darknefs of night. 
 The trees are clothed with thick moffes, which catch fire 
 from the fmalleft fpark ; the very ground is covered with 
 them, efpecially in the woods, to fo great a depth, that 1 
 have, oftener than once, funk, in the Summer time, up 
 to the kn^es, in thofe of Ruflia : Finally, the animals, 
 which inhabit thofe regions, are robed in fur to the very 
 tip of their claws. 
 
 When thefeafon returns for rcftoring heat to thofe cli= 
 mates, the Sun reappears there a confiderable time before 
 his natural term. Thus, the Dutch mariners, whom I 
 have juft mentioned, faw him, to their aftonifhment, above 
 the Horizon of Nova Zembla, on the twentyfourth of 
 January, that is, fifteen days fooner than they expefted 
 him. This return, fo much earlier than their hopes had 
 fafhioned it, filled them with joy, and difconcerted the 
 calculations of their intelligent pilot, the unfprtunate Ba- 
 rents. 
 
 It is then that the Star of Day there redoubles his heat 
 and his light, by means of the parhelions, which, like fo 
 many mirrors formed in the clouds, refle£l his difk upon 
 the Earth. He calls from Africa the winds of the South, 
 which, paffing over Zara, whofe fands are then violently 
 heated by the vicinity of the Sun to their Zenith, load 
 themfelves with igneous particles, and proceed to attack, 
 like battering rams of fire, that tremendous cupola of ice 
 which covers the extremity of our Hemifphere. Its enor- 
 mous vaultage, diflblved by the heat of ihofe winds, and 
 loofened by their violent agitations, detaches itfelf in 
 fragments as lofty as jnountains ; and, floating at the dif- 
 cretion of the Currents, which fweep them along toward 
 the Line, they advance fometimes as lar as to the 45th 
 degree, cooling the Seas of the South, by their vail effu- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 141 
 
 fions. Thus the ices of the Pole communicate coolijef§ 
 to the heated feas of Africa, juft as the burning fands q£ 
 Africa tranfmit warm winds to dilTolve the ices of the 
 Pole. 
 
 But as cold is, in its turn, a very gr^at , b)efling in the 
 Torrid Zone, Nature employs a thoufand methods to ex- 
 tend the influence, of it in that Zone, and to mitigate in it 
 the heat and the light of the Sun. Firft, fhe deftroys tjiere 
 the refraftions of the Atmofphere. There is fcarcely any 
 twilight between the Tropics, to precede the rifing oftlie 
 -Sun, and ilijl lefs after. his fetting. When he is in the 
 Zenith, he veils himfelf with rainy clpuds, which cool 
 the ground, both by their fhade and by their Ihowcrs. 
 Befides, thofe clouds being frequently impregnated with 
 thunder, the explofion of their fires dilates the fuperior 
 ftratum of the Atmofphere, which is icy at the height of 
 two thoufand five hundred fathom, under the Line, as 
 is evident from the fnows which. perpetually cover, at that 
 height, the ,fum.mits of fome of the Cordelier mountains. 
 They caufe to flow down, by their explofions and concuf- 
 fions, columns ot that air, congealed in the fuperior re- 
 gions of the Atmofphere, into the inferior, which are fud- 
 denly cooled by it, as we feel it to be in our own climates, 
 in, Summer, immediately after a thunder fl.orm. 
 
 The effiifions of the polar ices, in like manner, cool 
 the feas of the South ; and the polar winds frequently 
 blow on the hottefl: .parts of their fhores. Nature has, 
 farther, placed in the very heart of the Torrid Zone, and 
 in its vicinity, c)^ains of icy mountains, which accelerate, 
 and redouble the effe6^ts of the polar winds, efpecially a- 
 long the feas, where fermentation was mofl; to be dread- 
 ed, from the alluvions of the bodies of animals, and of 
 vegetables, which the v/aters are there continually de- 
 pofiting. Thus, the chain of Mount Taurus, eternally 
 covered with fnow, commences in Africa, on the burning 
 Jliores of Zara, and, coafting the Mediterranean, paiTes on 
 
142 
 
 A VINDICAT10x\ or 
 
 into Afia, where it extends long arms, this way and that, 
 which embrace the gulfs of the Indian Ocean. In Ameri- 
 ca, in the fame manner, the extenfive chains of the Cor- 
 deliers of Peru and Chili, with the elevated ridges in 
 which it crofles Brafil, cools the lengthened and burning 
 fhores of the South Sea, and of the gulf of Mexico. 
 
 Thefe elementary difpofitions are only part of the rc- 
 fources of Nature, for mitigating the heat in warm coun- 
 tries. She there fhades the ground with creeping veg- 
 etables and trees, in form of a parafol, fome of which, 
 fuch as the cocoa tree of the Sechelles Iflands, and the 
 talipot of Ceylon, have leaves from twelve to fifteen feet 
 long, and from feven to eight feet broad. She clothes 
 the animals of thofe regions with hairlefs (kins, and col- 
 ours them, in general, as well as the verdure, with dark 
 and dufky tints, in order to diminifh the reflexes of the 
 heat and of the light. This laft confideration leads me here 
 to fuggeft a few reflexions on the efFefts of colours ; the 
 little which I fhall advance on this fubjcft, will be fuffi- 
 cient to produce conviftion, that their generations are not 
 the effeft of chance ; that it is from reafons profoundly 
 wife we find one half of them proceed, in compounding 
 themfelves, toward the light ; and in their decompofition, 
 toward darknefs; and that all the harmonies of this World 
 are produced by contraries. 
 
 Naturalifts confider colours as accidents. But, if we 
 attend to the general ufes for which Nature employs them, 
 we fhall be perfuaded that there is not, even on rocks, a 
 fmgle fhade impreffcd without a meaning and a purpofe. 
 i.et us obferve, in the firft place, the principal effefts of 
 the two extreme colours, v»'hite and black, with relation 
 to the liglit. Plxperience demonftrates that, of all colours, 
 white is that v>'bich bell: reflefts the rays of the Sun, be- 
 caufc it fends them back without any tint, as pure as it re- 
 ceives them ; and that black, on the contrarv, is the leaft 
 adapted to tlieir reflection, becaufc it abforbs them. This, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 443 
 
 is the reaion why gardeners whiten the walls againil \fhich 
 their efpaliers are planted, in order to accelerate the ma- 
 turity of their fruits, by the reverberation of the Sun's 
 rays ; and why opticians blacken the walls of the camera 
 objcura, that their reflexes may not diflurb the luminous, 
 pifture on the tablet. 
 
 Nature, of confequence, frequently employs to the 
 North the white colour, in order to increafe the light and 
 heat of the Sun. Moft of the lands there are whitifh, or 
 of a clear gray. The rocks and fands of northern regions 
 are filled with mica and fpecular particles. Farther, the 
 whitenefs of the fnows, which cover them in Winter, and 
 the vitreous and cryllalline particles of their ices, are ex- 
 ceedingly adapted to mitigate the aftion of the cold, by re- 
 lieving the light and heat in the moft advantageous man- 
 ner. The trunks of the birch trees, of which the great- 
 eft part of their forefts confift, are covered with a bark 
 as white as paper. Nay, in fome places, the earth is cloth- 
 ed with a vegetation completely white. 
 
 ** In theeaftern part," fays an intelligent Swede, " of 
 ** the lofty mountains which feparate Sweden from Nor- 
 *' way, expofed to the utmoft rigor of the cold, there is a^, 
 *' very thick foreft, and fmgular in this refpeft, that the 
 *' pine which grows there is rendered black, by a fpecies 
 *' of filamentous lichen, which hangs upon it in great a-' 
 " bundance ; whereas the ground is covered every where 
 " around with a white lichen, which, in luftre, rivals the 
 '* the fnow.*" 
 
 Nature there beftows the fame colour on moft animals, . 
 fuch as the white bear, the wolf, the partridge, the hare, the 
 ermine ; others perceptibly whiten to a certain degree in 
 Winter, fuch as foxes and fquirrels, which are reddifh in 
 Summer, and light gray in Winter. Nay, if we confider the 
 
 * Extraft from the Natural Hiftory of the rein deer, by Charles FfceUjkk 
 ih^berg^ tranflafccd bv M, le Chevalier de KctaUs, 
 
444 A VhMDlCATiO}^ or 
 
 filiform figure of their hair, its yarhiflrahci'tranfparciidyV 
 W6 fhall be fenfible that it is corlfrivecl In the moft proper 
 lii'anner for reflefting' arid refracting the rays of light. 
 We ought not to'iniag'irie this whiteiiefs is a degeneration, 
 or enfeebling of thfe animal, aS Naturalifts have done with 
 refpeft to the human hair, which whitens in old a^e, as 
 they tell us, from a failure of radical moifture ; for noth- 
 ihg' c&n be'of a tlbf^r conte:s:t'ure than moft of thofe' furs, 
 ribr'any thing mbi'e vigorous than the animals which are 
 arrayed in them. The white bear is one of the ftrongeft 
 ahd nioit formidable of animals in the world ; it' fre^-' 
 quietly requires fe Vera! mufket (hot to bring him doVvn. ' 
 Nature^ on the contrary, has tinged with red, with blue, 
 with duiky,' and black tints, the foil; the vegetables, the- 
 artimals,' nay, evdn ihfe'meri, who inhabit the Torrid Zone, 
 forthepurpofe of there abforbing the fires of the burnina*' 
 Atmofphere \^^ith which they are f6rr6unded. Theiands, 
 and the fands of the'greateft pai"t of Africa^ fituated be- 
 tween the Tropics, are of a reddifh brown, and the rocks ' 
 ai*<^ of a black' hue: The Iflands of France and of Bour- 
 tdH,' which are oil the border of that Zone, are, in gener- 
 al, of the fame dark complexion. I have feen there chick- 
 ehs and parroquets, not only whbfe plumage, butthefkin 
 itfelf, was dyed black. I have likewife feen, in thbfe if- 
 lands, fifhes entirely black, and efpecially among the fpe- 
 cies which' live near the furface ' of ' the water, over the 
 fHalloWs, fuch a^ the' old Woman and the thornbkck: 
 
 As animals whiten, in Winter, toward the Nbi'th, in 
 proportion as the Sun withdraws frbrrl them, thbfe *of the 
 Sbuth afl'umc dark and dufky tints', in ' prbpbrtio'ri" as'thb 
 Sim approaches to them. When he is in the Zenith, the 
 fparrows of the' tropical countries' have breaft^lates, and 
 the plumage 'of the head, completely red. There are 
 birds in thofe regions which change their colour three 
 times every year, havings if I may ufe the cxpreflion, one 
 «irefs for Spring, another for Summer, and a third for 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. *4^ 
 
 Winter, according as the Sun is in the Line, in the Tropic 
 of Cancer, or in that of Capricorn.* 
 
 This, too, is very remarkable, and of confequential im- 
 portance to the ufe which Nature makes of thefe colours, 
 to the North, and to the South ; namely, that in all coun- 
 tries, the whiteft part of the body of an animal is the bel- 
 ly, becaufe more heat is wanted there for promoting di ^ 
 geftion, and carrying on the other animal functions ; and, 
 on the contrary, the head is univerfally moft ftrongly col- 
 oured, efpecially in thofe of hot countries, becaufe, in. 
 the animal economy, that part ftands moft in need of be- 
 ing kept cool. 
 
 It cannot be maintained, that the bellies of animals 
 preferve their whitenefs, becaufe that part of the body is 
 iheltcred from the Sun ; and that their heads afTume ftrong 
 colouring, from being more expofed to his influence. It 
 might appear, from reafons of analogy, that the natural 
 cffeft of light ought to be, to inveft with its luftre all 
 the objefts which it touches ; and that, conformably to 
 this, the foilj the vegetables, and the animals of the Tor- 
 rid Zone ought to be white ; and that darknefs, on the 
 
 * The white colour, accordlrtgly, incrcafes the eff"e£l of the rays of the 
 Sun, and the black weakens it. The inhabitants of Malta whiten the in- 
 fide of their apartments, in order, as they allege, to render the fcorpions 
 perceptible, which are very common in that ifland. In doing this, if I am 
 not miftaken, they commit two errors; the firft, in mifapprehending the 
 colour : For the fcorpions, which there are gray, would appear ftill better 
 on a dark ground ; the fecond, and one of much greater importance, is 
 their increafmg to fuch a degree the reverberation of the light, that the eye- 
 fight is fenfibly affefted by it. To this caufe I principally afcribe the dif- 
 order of the eye fo frequently complained of by thofe iflanders. Oui 
 trades people wear white hats, in Summer, when in the country, and com- 
 plain of headachs. All thefe evils arife from neglefling to ftudy Xature. 
 In the Ifle of Trance they employ, for wainfcotting, the wood of the coun- 
 try, which in time becomes entirely black ; but this tint is too gloomy. 
 It feems as if Nature had forefccn, in this refpeft, the fervices .which Man 
 was to derive from the interior of trees : Their timber is brown in moft 
 of thofe of hot countries, and white in :hok of the norlhern regions, fuch 
 as the fir and tl;ic birclj. 
 
 VOLi II. T 
 
346 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 contrary, a6ling for feveral months together on the Potes^ 
 ought to clothe every objeft, within thofe regions, in 
 robes of mourning. But Nature fubjefts not herfelf to 
 mechanical Laws. Whatever may be the phyfical effe6l 
 . of the prefence of the Sun, or of his abfence, ftie has con- 
 trived, toward the North, to impofe very black fpots on 
 the whiteft bodies, and, to the South, white fpots on the 
 the darkeft bodies. She has blackened the tip of the tail 
 of the Siberian ermine, in order that thefe little animals, 
 which are white all over, as they march along the fnow, 
 where they fcarcely leave any traces of their footfteps, 
 may be enabled to dillinguifh each other, when proceed- 
 ing in a train, in the luminous reflexes of the long nights 
 of the North. 
 
 Perhaps, too, this blacknefs, oppofed to the white, may 
 be one of thofe decided chara6leriftics with which (he 
 has marked beafts of prey ; fuch as the extremity of the 
 black fnout, and the black paws of the white bear. Th^ 
 ermine is a fpecies of weafel. There are, likewife, in 
 the North, foxes completely black ; but they are indem- 
 nified, for the influence of the white colour, by the warm- 
 cfl and thickeft of furs ; it is the moll valuable of all 
 thofe of the North. Befides, this fpecies of foxes is very 
 rare, even in thofe countries. Nature has, perhaps, clothed 
 them in black, becaufe they live in fubterraneous places, 
 in the midft of warm fands, or in the vicinity of certain 
 volcanoes, or for fome other reafon, to me unknown, but 
 correfponding to their natural calls. It is thus fhe has 
 clothed in while the paillencu, or bird of the Tropics, 
 becaufe this bird, which flies at a prodigious elevation a- 
 hove the Sea, palTes part of its life in the vicinity of a fro- 
 zen Atmofphcre. Thefe exceptions by no means deftroy 
 the general adaptation of thofe two colours ; on the con- 
 trary, they confirm it, feeing it is employed by Nature for 
 diminifliing, or increafing, the heat of the animal, in con- 
 formity to the temperature of the place where it lives. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 147 
 
 I 'now leave' it 'to Naturalifis to explain how it comes 
 topafs, that cold fliould caufe to vegetate the hair of ani- 
 mals in the North ; and why the heat Ihould (horten, or 
 caufe to fall off, the hair of animals, to the South ; in con- 
 tradiftion to all the Laws of fyftematic, nay, of experi- 
 mental Phyfics ; for we are allured, from our perfonal 
 experience, that Winter retards the growth of the human 
 hair and beard, and that Summer accelerates it. 
 
 1 believe I have a glimpfe of a law very different from 
 ^the Law of analogies, which we fo commonly affign to 
 Nature, becaufe it allies itfeli to our weaknefs, by afford- 
 ing us a pretence to explain every thing, with the affift- 
 ance of a fmall number of principles. This Law, infi- 
 nitely varied in its mear>s, is that of co?npcnfat2ons.^ It is 
 a confequence from the univerfal Law, or the mutual a- 
 daptation of things, and a fequel of the union of contra- 
 ries, whereof the harmonies of the imiverfe are compofed. 
 
 * In reflecting on thefe compenfations, which are very numerous, and, 
 among others, on thofe of the light of the Sun, which embrowns bodies in 
 ■order to weaken the reflexes of ihcm, it has fuggefted itfelf to my thoughts, 
 that fire muft, in like manner, produce matter the beft adapted to diminifh 
 its own a£tivity. And of this I have, in faft, made frequent proof, by 
 throwing a little aflics on the flame blazing on my hearth. By this means 
 I have been able to quench it fuddenly aimed without fmoke. I recolleft, 
 to this purpofe, having, lome time ago, feen, in one of our feaports, a great 
 caldron f^ll of pitch, catch fire, which they were heating for careening a 
 Ihip. Inexperienced perfons immediately attempted to extinguifh the 
 flame by throv.'ing water upon it ; but the boiling and inflamed matter 
 fpread but the more violently, in torrents of fire, over the brim of the cal- 
 dron ; I did not think a fingle ladle full would be left within the veiTel, 
 ■when an old feaman ran up, and inllanily brought it down by throwinaf up- 
 on it a few (hovels fall of afhes. I believe, therefore, that, by uniting this 
 application with that of water, great aflidance might be derived in cafe of . 
 conflagrations ; for the aflies would not only deaden the flame, without ex- 
 citing that dreadful fmoke which arifes from it, aa foon as the engines bo- 
 gin to play, but when once thoroughly moiflened, they would retard the 
 evaporation of the vyater, which is almoll inftantaneous, when the fire has 
 made a confiderable progrefs. It would afford me incxprefiiblc fatisfac- 
 tion, fliould this obfervation merit the attention of thofe who have ability 
 to give it, from their experience, fagacity and influence, all the utilirv >^i 
 vi'bich it is fiifceotible. 
 
J48 A VINDICATION oi 
 
 'ihus it frequently happens, that effe6ls, fo far from be- 
 ing the refults of caufes, are oppofite to them. For ex- 
 ample, it has p leafed Nature to clothe in white feveral 
 birds, the inhabitants of warm regions, fuch as the heron 
 of the Antilles, and the perroquct of the Moluccas, call- 
 ed cacato'es ; but fhe has beftowed, at the fame time, on 
 their plumage, a difpofition which weakens the refleftion 
 of it. 
 
 Farther, it is very remarkable, that fhe has furnifhed 
 tl.c heads of thofe birds with tufts and plumes of feath- 
 ers, which ovcrfhadow them, becaufe, as was formerly 
 obfervcd, the head is that part of the body, which, in the 
 animal economy, Hands moil in need of being kept cool. 
 Such is our creflcd hen, which comes originally from Nu- 
 iiiidia. Nay, I do not believe, that there are to be found 
 in any but fouthern countries, birds with tufted heads. 
 If there are fome toward the North, as the lapwing, they 
 Tnakc their appearance there only in Summer. Moft of 
 thofe of the North, on the contrary, have the belly and 
 the feet clothed with tippets formed of down, fimilar to 
 J he fineft of wool. 
 
 This, likewifc, is lanlier worthy of remark, refpefting 
 the white birds and quadrupeds of the South, which live 
 in a hot Atmofphcrc, namely, if 1 am not miftaken, that 
 the (km of th.cm all is black, which is fufficient to coun- 
 terbalance the reflc6f ion of the colour of their exterior 
 drefs. Robert Kijcx, in fpeaking of certain white quad- 
 rupeds of the I(land of Ceylon, fays, that their fkin i^ 
 t-ntircly hlack. I myfelf recolleft to have feen, at Port 
 rOrient, a cacato'es, whofe ftomach had been ftripped of 
 i!.r fr.itljcrs, and difplayed a fkin as black as that of a Ne- 
 W'hcn this white bird, with his black beak, and 
 i-i.uk and naked breaft, ercfted his plume, and clapped 
 his wir.gs, he had the complete air of an Indian King, with 
 his crown, and mantle of feathers. 
 
 Ihis Law of compcnfations employs, therefore, means 
 ^ndtcfslv varied, which conrr^dia moil of the Laws whic^ 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 149 
 
 we have laid in PhyCcs ; but this Law mufl itfelf be fub^ 
 jefted to that of general accommodation or conformity ; 
 without which, were we to attempt to render it univerfal, 
 it Would involve us, in its turn, in the common error. It 
 has given rife, in Geometry, to feveral axioms extremely 
 doubtful, though of great celebrity, fuch as the following ; 
 the adion is equal to the reaSion ; and this other, which 
 is a confequencd from it, the angle of refledipn is equal to 
 the angle of incidence. I fhall not flop to demonftrate ia 
 how many cafes thefe axioms are erroneous ; how many 
 aftions in Nature are without reaftions ; how many ac- 
 tions have unequal rea61:ions ; how many angles of reflec- 
 tion are deranged by the very planes of incidence. It is 
 fufficient for me, at prefent, to repeat what I have already, 
 oftener than once, advanced, namely, that the weaknefs oi 
 the human mind, and the vanity of our education, are in- 
 cefTantly prompting us to generalize. This mode of pro- 
 ceeding is the fource of all our errors, and perhaps, of all 
 our vices. Nature bellows on every being that which is 
 adapted to it, in the mod perfeft conformity, according 
 to the Latitude for which it is deftined ; and when the 
 temperature of that Latitude is affefted by change of fea- 
 fons, fhe is pleafed to vary, likewife, the adaptations. 
 Some of thofe adaptations are, accordingly, immutable, 
 and others variable. 
 
 Nature frequently employs contrary m.eans for produc- 
 ing the fame efFett. She makes glafs with fire ; fhe makes 
 it, too, with water, the cryflal for inftance : Farther, (lie 
 produces it from animal organization, fuch as certain 
 tranfparent fneil fifh. She forms the diamond by a pro- 
 cefs to us utterly unknown. Conclude now, becaufe a 
 body has been vitrified, it mufl certainly be by the effect 
 of fire, and rear on this perception the fyftem ol the U- 
 niverfe ! The utmoft that we aie capable of doing is to 
 catch fome harmonic inllants in the exillence ol beings. 
 That which is vitrifiable becomes calcareous, and what is" 
 ^alcareous changes into glafs, by the action oi the fame-. 
 
ijo A VINDICATION of 
 
 fire. Deduce then, from thefe fimplc modifications of 
 the foflil kingdom, invariable charaQers for determining 
 the general clalTes of it ! 
 
 On the other hand, Nature frequently employs, alfo, 
 the fame means, for producing effecls dire6lly contrary, 
 for example, we have feen that, in order to increafe the 
 heat over the lands of the North, and to mitigate it over 
 thofe of the South, fhe made ufe of oppofite colours ; fhe 
 produces in both the fame effefts, by covering the face of 
 the one and of the other with rocks. Thefe rocks are 
 eflentially neceffary to vegetation. I have frequently re- 
 marked, in thofe of Finland, llripes of verdure fkirting 
 their bafes to the South ; and in thofe of the Ifle of 
 France, I have feen fuch verdant ftripes on the fide avert- 
 ed from the Sun. 
 
 The fame obfervations may be made in our own clim- 
 ate. In Summer, when every thing is parched, we fre- 
 quently find green herbage under walls which have a 
 northerly afpeft ; it difappears in Winter ; but then we 
 find it replaced in front of eminences which face fouth- 
 ward. 
 
 We have already remarked, that the icy Zones, and the 
 Torrid Zone, contain the greateft quantity of waters, the 
 evaporation of which equally tempers the violence of the 
 heat and of the cold, with this difference, that the great- 
 eft lakes are toward the Poles, and the greateft rivers to- 
 ward the Line. There are, it is admitted, fome lakes in 
 the interior of Africa and of America ; but they are plac- 
 ed in elevated atmofpheres, in the centre of mountains, 
 where they are not liable to corruption from the aftion 
 of the heat ; but the plains and low grounds are wafhed 
 by the greateft currents of living water that are in the 
 World, fuch as the Zara, the Senegal, the Nile, the Me- 
 chafiippi, the Oroonoko, the Amazon and others. 
 
 Nature propofes to herfelf, unive- Tally, only the accom- 
 modation of beings polTefied of fcniibility. This remarl; 
 is all important in the lludy of her Works ; otherwifc. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 151 
 
 from the fimilitude of the means which fhe employs, or 
 the exceptions from them, we might be tempted to doubt 
 of the confiftency of her Laws, inftead of afcribing the 
 majeftic obfcurity which pervades them, to the muUiplic- 
 ity of her refources, and to the profundity of our own 
 ignorance. \ ' 
 
 This Law of adaptation and conformity has been the 
 fource of all bur difcoveries. It was this which wafted 
 Chrijlopher Columbus to America ; becaufe as Herrcra 
 tells us,* he thought,, contrary to the opinion of the An- 
 cients, that the whole five Zones muft be inhabited, as 
 GOD had not formed the Earth to be a defert* It is this 
 Law which regulates our ideas refpefting objefts abfolute- 
 ly beyond the reach of our examination. By means of 
 it, though we are ignorant whether there may be men in 
 the Planets, we are alTured there niufl be eyes, becaufe 
 there is light. It is this which has awakened a fenfe of 
 Juftice in the heart of every man, and informs him that 
 there is another order of things after this life is at an end. 
 This Law, in a word, is the moft irrefiftible proof of the 
 exiftence of GOD ; for amidft fuch a multitude of adap- 
 tations fo ingenious, that our paflions themfelves, reftlefs 
 as they are, never could have devifed any thing fimilar ; 
 and fo numerous, that every day is prefenting to us fome 
 that have all the merit of novelty, the firft of all, which is 
 the Deity, muft undoubtedly exift, as He is the general 
 conformity of all particular conformities. 
 
 It is this, above all, whofe exiftence we endeavour, ev- 
 en involuntarily, -every where to trace, and to affure our- 
 felves of it in every poflible manner. And this explains 
 to us the reafon why the moft fplendid and comprehenfive 
 coUeaions in Natural Hiftory, Galleries of the choiceft 
 mafterpieces in Painting, Gardens filled with the rareft 
 and moft curious plants. Libraries ftored with the moft 
 valuable and beft written books ; in a word, every thing 
 
 * Hmera'i Hiftory of the Weftindics, Book i. chap. 2. 
 
«52 A VINDICATION or 
 
 that prefenls to us the moft marvellous relations of Na- 
 ture, after having raifed us to an extafy of admiration, 
 conclude by fuperinducing languor and fatigue. We fre~ 
 quently prefer to all thefe a ruftic mountain, a rugged 
 rod;, fome wild folitude, which might prefent to us rela- 
 tions newer, and ftill more direft. 
 
 How often, on coming out of the King's magnificent 
 Cabinet of Natural Hiftory, do we flop mechanically to 
 Jook at a gardener digging a hole in the field with his 
 fpade, or at a carpenter hewing a piece of timber with his 
 hatchet ? It looks as if we expefted to fee fome new har- 
 mony flart out of the bofom of the Earth, or burfl from 
 the fide of a lump of oak. We fet no value on thofe 
 which we have jult been enjoying, unlefs they lead us for- 
 ward to others, which as yet we do not know. But were 
 the complete Hiftory given us of the flars of the Firma- 
 ment, and of the invifible Planets which encircle them, we 
 ihould perceive in them a multitude of ineffable plans of 
 intelligence and goodnefs, after which the heart would 
 continue fondly to figh : Its lafl and only end is the Di- 
 vinity himfelf. 
 
biVlNE PROVIDENCE. 153 
 
 STUDY TENTH. 
 
 At^PUCATIONS OF SOME GENERAL LAWS OF NA- 
 TURE TO PLANTS. 
 
 xSEFORE 1 proceed to fpeak of plants, I muft be in- 
 dulged in making a few reflexions on the language of Bot- 
 any. 
 
 We are flill fo young in the ftudy of Nature, that our 
 ianguagies are deficient in terms to exprefs her moft com- 
 mon harmonies. This is fo true, that however exaft the 
 defcriptions of plants may be, and compiled by Botanifls 
 of whatever ability, it is impofTible to diftinguifti them in 
 the fields, unlefs yOu have previoufly feen them in Nature, 
 or, at leaft, in an herbary. Perfons, who think they have 
 Inade the greateft proficiency in Botany, need only attempt 
 to draw on paper a plant which they have never feen, af- 
 ter the defcription of the moft accurate Mafter, to be con- 
 vinced how widely the copy deviates from the original. 
 
 Men of genius- have, neverthelefs, taken inexpreffible 
 pains to aflign charafteriftic names to the different parts 
 of plants. They have even borrowed moft of thofe names 
 from the Greek, a language of fingular energy of expref- 
 fion. From this has refulted another inconveniency ; it 
 is, that thofe names, being for the moft part compounds, 
 cannot be rendered into modern language ; and for this 
 reafon it is that a great part of the Works of Linnaus are 
 abfolutely incapable of tranflation. Thefe learned and 
 
 VOL. II, u 
 
1^4 A VINDICATION of 
 
 Hiyflerious expreffions, no doubt, diflfufe a venerable air 
 over the fludy of Botany ; but Nature has no need of 
 fuch refources of human art to attraft our refpeft. The 
 fublimity of her Laws can eafily difpenfe with the em- 
 phafis and obfcurity of our expreffions. The more light 
 a man carries in his own bofom, the more wonderful he 
 efteems it to be. 
 
 After all, moft of thofe foreign names, employed par- 
 ticularly by the herd of Botanifts, do not fo much as ex- 
 prefs the moft common charafters of vegetables. They 
 frequently make ufe, for example, of fuch vague expref- 
 fions as \.h.e{(t,Juave rubente, fuave olente^ of an agreeable 
 red, fweet fmelling, in order to charafterize flowers ; 
 without expreffing the fhade of red, or the fpecies of per- 
 fume. They arc flill more embarrafTed, when they wifii 
 to convey the dufky colours of the flem, of the root, or of 
 the fruit : Atro rubejite, fay they, Jufco nigrtfcente^ of a 
 dark red, of a dufky brown. As to the forms of vegeta- 
 bles, the cafe is flill w^orfe, though they have fabricated 
 terms compounded of four or five Greek words to defcribe 
 them, 
 
 jf. J. Roujftau communicated to me, one day, a fet of 
 characters fomewhat refembling the algebraic, which he 
 had invented for the purpofe of briefly expreffing the col- 
 ours and forms of vegetables. Some of them reprefented 
 the forms of the flowers; others, thofe of the leaves ; oth- 
 ers, thofe of the fruits. Some refembled a heart, fome 
 were triangular, fome of the lozenge fhape. He did not 
 employ above nine or ten of thofe figns, to compofe the 
 cxpreffion of one plant. Some he placed above others, 
 with cyphers which indicated the genera and the fpecies 
 of the plant, fo that you would have taken them for the 
 terms of an algebraic formula. However ingenious and 
 expeditious this method mieht be, he informed me that 
 he had given it up, becaufe it prcfented to him fkeletons 
 only. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 
 
 '03 
 
 This fentiment came with peculiar grace from a man 
 whofe tafte was equal to his genius, and may fuggell fome 
 reflections to thofe who are for giving abridgments of ev. 
 €ry thing, efpecially of the Works of Nature. The idea 
 of John James, however, well deferves to be followed up, 
 fhould it only ferve to produce, one day, an alphabet pro- 
 per to exprefs the language of Nature. All that feemvS 
 requifite is the introduftion of accents, to convey the 
 fhades of colours, and all the modifications of favours, per- 
 fumes and forms. After all, thofe charafters could not 
 be delineated with perfe6l precifion, unlefs the qualities 
 of each vegetable are firft exaftly determined by words: 
 Otherwife the language of Botanifts, which is now accuf- 
 €d of fpeaking only to the ear, would make itfelf intelli- 
 gible only to the eye. 
 
 This is what I have to propofe refpe6ling an objeft fo 
 highly interefting, and which will perfeftly coalefce with 
 the general principles which we ihall afterwards lay down. 
 The little which I may advance on the fubjeft will ferve 
 to fupply exprefliori; not only in Botany, and in the ftudy 
 of the other natural Sciences, but in all the Arts, where 
 we find ourfelves puzzled every inftant, for want of terms 
 to convey the (hades and forms of objefts. 
 
 Though we have only the term white, whereby to ex- 
 prefs the colour which bears that name, Nature prefents 
 to us a great variety of forts of it. Painting, with refpecl 
 to this article, is as barren as language. 
 
 I have been told of a famous Painter of Italy, who, up- 
 on a certain occafion, found himfelf very much embarraff- 
 ed how to reprefent, in one of his pieces, three figures 
 (Irefled in white. The point in queftion was, to give ef- 
 feft to thofe figures, to be thus uniformly dreffed, and to 
 draw out different fliades of the moft fimple, and the leaft 
 compounded, of all colours. Ke was going to abandon 
 his objeft as a thing impoffible, when, happening to pafs 
 through a corn market, he perceived the effe£l which he 
 was in queft of. It was a group farmed by three millers. 
 
J36 A VINDICATION op 
 
 cne of whom was under a tree, the fecond in the half tint 
 of the (hade of that tree, and the third expofed to the rays 
 of the Sun : So that though the drapery of all the three 
 was white, they were completely detached from each oth- 
 er. He introduced a tree, therefore, amid ft the three per- 
 fonages of his pifture, and, by illuminating one of them 
 with the rays of the Sun, and throwing over the other twcx 
 different tints of fhade, he was enabled to exhibit a dra- 
 pery of three feyeral cafts of white. 
 
 This, however, was rather to elude the difficulty, than 
 to refolve it. And this is, in faft, what Painters do in fim- 
 ilar cafes. They diverfify their whites by (hades, half 
 tints and reflexes ; but thefe whites are not pure ; they 
 are always difturbed with yellow, blue, green or gray. 
 Nature employs feveral fpecies of white, without dimin- 
 ilhing the purity of it, by dotting, rumpling, radiating, 
 
 varnifhing it, and in various other ways^ Thus, the 
 
 whites of the lily, of the daify, of the lily of the valley, of 
 the narciffus, of the anemone nemorofa, of the hyacinth, 
 are all different from each other. The white of the daify 
 has fomething of that of a fhepherdefs's cornet ; that of 
 the hyacinth has a refemblance of ivory ; and that of the 
 lily, half tranfparent and chryftalline, refembles the pafte 
 of porcelain. I believe, therefore, that all the whites, pro- 
 duced by Nature, or by Art, might be referred to thofe of 
 the petals of our flowers. We fhould thus have, in vege- 
 tables, a fcale of (hades of the pureft white. 
 
 We might, in like manner, procure all the pure and im- 
 aginable (hades of yellow, of red and of blue, from the 
 flowers of the jonquil, of the faffron, of the butter flower 
 of the meadow, oi the rofe, of the pvppy, of the blue bot- 
 tle, of the cornfield, of the larkfpur and fo on. We might 
 find, in the fame manner, among our common flowers, all 
 the compound (hades, fuch as thofe of the impurpled vio- 
 let and foxglove, which are formed pf the various harmo- 
 nies of red and blue. The fmgle compound colour, made 
 up of blue and yellow, which conUitutes the green of oui: 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 157 
 
 lierbage, is fo varied in every plain, that each plant, I may- 
 venture to affirm, has its peculiar fhade ot that colour. I 
 can have no doubt that Nature has difplayed, in equal 
 variety, the other colours of her palette, in the bofom of 
 flowers, or on the furface of fruits. 
 
 In performing this, fhe fometimes employs very differ- 
 ent tints, without confounding them ; but flie lays them 
 on one above another, fo that they form tlie dove's neck : 
 Such is the beautiful fhag which garnifhes the corola of 
 the anemone; in other cafes, fhe glazes their furface, as 
 certain moffes with a green ground, which are glazed over 
 with purple ; ihe velvets others, fuch as the panfy ; (he 
 powders over fome fruits with a delicately fine flour, 
 fuch as the purple plumb, diffinguifhed by the addition 
 oi de Monjieur ; or invefts them with a light, down to foft- 
 en their vermillion, as the peach ; or fmooths their fkin, 
 and gives the brightefl hiflre to their colours, as to the red 
 pf the apple of Calleville. 
 
 What embarrafTes Naturalifts the moft, in denominating 
 colours, is to find diflinftive epithets for fuch as are dufky ; 
 jpT rather, this gives them no manner of concern : For they 
 evade the difficulty by the vague and indecifive expref- 
 fions, of blackifh, gray, afh coloured, brown, which they 
 convey, it is true, in Greek and Latin words. But thofe 
 words frequently anfwer no purpofe, except to confound 
 their images, by giving no reprefentation whatever ; for 
 what, in good earneil, is meant by thefe> and fuch like 
 epithets, airopurfurante^fii/Lonigre/cenie.'which.they em- 
 ploy fo frequently ? 
 
 It is pofTible to make thoufands of tints widely dif- 
 ferent from each other, to which fuch general expreflions 
 might be applied. As thofe dark fhades, in truth, are 
 much compounded, it is exceedingly difficult to charafcler- 
 ize them by the phrafeology of our common vocabularies. 
 But this might be eafily and cfTeftualiy accomplilhed, by 
 referring them to the different colours of our domeflic 
 vegetables, I have remarked in the barks of our trees and 
 
1^8 A VINDICATION of 
 
 fhrubbery, in the capfules and fhells of their fruits, as well 
 as in the dead leaves, an incredible variety of thofe fad 
 and gloomy fhades, from yellow down to black, with all 
 the intermixtures and accidents of the other colours. Thus, 
 inflead of faying in Latin, a yellow inclining to black, or 
 an afli coloured tint, in order to determine fome particu- 
 lar fliade of colour in a produftion of Art, or of Nature, 
 we might fay a yellow of the colour of a dried walnut, or 
 a gray like the bark of a beech tree. 
 
 Thofe exprelTions would be fo much the more exaft, 
 that Nature invariably employs fuch tints in vegetables, 
 as determining characters and indications of maturity, of 
 vigor, or of decay ; and that our peafantry can diftinguifli 
 the different fpecies of wood in the forefts by infpeftion 
 of their bark fimply. Thus, not Botany alone, but all the 
 Arts, might find, in vegetables, an inexhaullible diftionary 
 of unvarying colours, which would not be embarrafTed 
 with barbarous and technical compound words, but which 
 would continually prefent new images. Our books of 
 Science would thence derive much pleafmg vivacity, from 
 being embellilhed by comparifons and exprefTions bor- 
 rowed from the lovelieft kingdom of Nature. 
 
 The great Poets of Antiquity carefully availed them- 
 felves of this, by referring mofl of the events of human 
 life to fome appearance of the vegetable kingdom. Thus 
 Homer compares the fleeting generations of feeble mor- 
 tals to the leaves which drop from the trees ot the foreft, 
 at the end of Autumn ; the frefhnefs of beauty to that of 
 the rofe ; and the palenefs which overfpreads the counte- 
 nance of a young man wounded to death in battle, as well 
 as the attitude of his drooping head, to the colour and the 
 fading of a lily, whofe root has been torn up by the plough. 
 But we fatisfy ourfelves with repeating the exprefTions of 
 men of genius, without daring to tread in their footfleps. 
 This, however, is not the worft, for mofl Naturalifls con- 
 fider the colours thcmfelves of vegetables as accidents 
 fjmply. We fhall prefently fee under what a grievous 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 139 
 
 mlftake they labour, and how widely they have deviated 
 from the fublime plans of Nature, by perfifting in a prof- 
 ^cution of their mechanical and fyftematic methods. 
 
 It is poflible, in like manner, to trace an approxima- 
 tion of favours and fmells of every fpecies, and of every 
 country, to thofe of the plants of our gardens and of our 
 fields. The ranunculus of the meadow has the acridity of 
 the Java pepper. The root of the caryophyllata, or holy 
 thiftle, and the flower of the pink, fmell like the clove of 
 Amboyna. As to compound favours and fmells, they may 
 be referred to fuch as are fimple, the elements of which 
 Nature has fcattered over all climates, and which fhe has 
 united in the clafs of vegetables. I know a fpecies of mo- 
 rel, ufed as food by the Indians, which, when boiled, has 
 the tafte of beef. They^call it brette. There is a fpecies 
 of the cranefbill, the leaf of which refembles, in fmell, a 
 roafted leg of mutton. The mufcari, a fpecies of fmall hy- 
 acinth, which grows among fhrubbery early in the Spring, 
 fmells very ftrongly of the plumb. Its fmall monopeta- 
 lous flowers, of a delicate blue colour, and with lips or 
 incifions, have likewife the form of that fruit. 
 
 By approximations fuch as thefe, the Englifli Navigator 
 Dampier, and Father du Tertre, have given us, as far as I 
 can judge, the moll accurate notions of the fruits and flow- 
 ers which grow between the Tropics, by referring them 
 to the fruits and flowers of our own climates. Dampier^ 
 for example, in order to defcribe the banana, compares it, 
 when ftripped of its thick five panneled fl^in, to a large 
 faufage ; its fubflance and colour to frefh butter in Win- 
 ter ; its tafte, a mixture of apple and of the pear known 
 by the name of the good chnftian, which melts in the 
 mouth like marmalade. When this traveller defcribes 
 lome good fruit of the Indies, he fetsyour mouth a water- 
 ing. He poflefles a naturally found underilanding, fupe- 
 rior, at once, to the methodical tramm.els of the learned, 
 and to the prejudices of the vulgar. He maintains, for 
 inftance, and with truth on his fide, in oppofition to the 
 
i5o A VINDICATION of 
 
 cpinlon of mofl navigators, that the plantain, or banana, U 
 the king of fruits, without excepting even the cocoa. He 
 informs us, that this is likewife the opinion of the Span- 
 iards, and that multitudes of families live, between the 
 Tropics, on this pleafant, wholefome, and nourifliing fruit, 
 which lafts all the year round, and Hands in no need of 
 any of the arts of cookery. 
 
 Father du Tertre is not lefs happy, nor lefs accurate, 
 in his botanical defcriptions. Thefe two travellers give 
 you, at a fmgle ftroke, by means of trivial fimilitudes, a 
 precife idea of a foreign vegetable, which you would fearch 
 for to no purpofe in the Greek names of our firft rate Bot- 
 anifls. This mode of defcribing Nature, by ordinary im- 
 ages and fenfations, is held in contempt by the learned; 
 but I confider it as the only one capable of exhibiting 
 pictures, that have a refemblance, and as the true charafter 
 of genius. With fuch affiftance, you will be enabled to 
 paint every natural objeft, and may difpenfe with methods 
 and fyflems ; without it you will only coin phrafes. 
 
 Let us now fuggejft a few thoughts refpefling the forni 
 oi natural objefts. It is here that the language of Botany, 
 and even thofe of the other Arts, are peculiarly barren. 
 Geometry, whofe particular objefl; this is, has invented 
 fcarcely more than a dozen of regular curves, which are 
 known to only a fmall number of the learned ; and Na- 
 ture employs an infinite multitude of them in the forms 
 of flowers alone. Some of the ufes of thefe we fhall pref- 
 ently indicate. Not that 1 mean to make of a fludy pro- 
 lific of delight, a fublime Science, worthy only of the ge- 
 nius of a Newton. As Nature has introduced, in my o- 
 plnion, not only the colours, the favours and the perfumes, 
 but likewife every model of form into the leaves, the flow- 
 ers and the fruits of all climates, whether in trees, in 
 herbage, or in moffes ; the vegetable forms of other part^ 
 of the World, might be referred to thofe of our own 
 country which are moft familiar to us. Such approxima- 
 tions would be much more intelligible than Greek com- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. lit 
 
 pound wards, and would manifeft new relations in the 
 different claffes of the fame kingdom. 
 
 They would be no lefs neceffary for expreffing the ag- 
 gregations of the flowers on their ftems^ of the ftems round 
 the root, and the groups of young plants around the pa- 
 rent plant. It may be affirmed, that the names of moft of 
 thefe vegetable aggregations artd difpofitions are yet to be 
 invented ; the greateft Mailers not having been fortunate 
 in charafterizing them, or, to fpeak without referve, not 
 having made it any part of their ftudy. For example, 
 when Tournefort* fpeaks, in his Voyage to the Levant^ 
 of a heliotrope of the Ifle of Naxos, which he charafter- 
 izes thus, hdiotropum humifufum, flore minimo, femint 
 magno, the creeping heliotrope, with a very fmali flower 
 and a large feed ; he fays that it has its flowers difpofed in 
 form of an ear of corn^ going off in a fcorpion's tail* 
 There are two miftakes in this defcription ; for the flow- 
 ers of this heliotrope, fimilar, from their aggregation, to 
 the flowers of the heliotrope of our climates, and to that 
 of Peru, are not difpofed in form of an ear of corn^ for 
 they are arranged on a horizontal ftem, and only on one 
 fide ; and they bend downward, like the tail of a fnail, 
 and not upward, like the tail of a fcorpion. 
 
 The fame inaccuracy, in refpeft of image, is to be 
 found in the defcription which he gives us of the Jlachis 
 Cretica iatifolia, the broad leaved flachis of Cjete : Its 
 flowers, fays he, are difpofed in rings. No one can im^ 
 agine he intends to convey this meaning, that they are 
 difpofed like the diyifions of the king of the chefs board. 
 Under this form, however, they are reprefented in the 
 drawing of Aubriet, his deflgner. I do not know any bo- 
 tanic expreffion which conveys this charafter of fpherical 
 aggregations, in feparate ftories of alternate fwellings and 
 fmkings, and terminating in a pyramid. Barbsu du Bourg, 
 who poffeffes much imagination with little exaftnefs, call* 
 
 * Tourneforrs Voyage to the Levant, yq), i. 
 VOL, II. W 
 
j6^ a VlKDlCATl-OiNf of 
 
 this form verticiilate, for what reafon I know not. - If ri 
 is from the Latin word vertex, head or fummit, becalife 
 thcfe flowers, thus aggregated, form feveral fummits, this 
 denomination would be more applicable to feveral other 
 plants; and, befides, does not exprefs the fwellings, the 
 finkings, and the progreflive diminution of the flowers of 
 the ftachis. 
 
 Tournefort Acx'wt^ ix. from the Latin word verticillus* 
 that is, fays he, a fmall weight perforated circularly to re- 
 ceive the end of a fpindle, in order to make it whirl with 
 greater facility. This is going a great way, in queft of a 
 verv imperfe6l fimilitude, to an utenfil by no means gen- 
 erally known. In faying this, however, I would not be 
 conhdered as failing in the rcfpeft which is due to fuch a 
 man as Tournejort, who firft cleared for us the botanic 
 path, and was, befides, a perfon of profound erudition. 
 But from this careleffnefs of the great Mafters, we may 
 form a judgment of the vague, inaccurate, and incoherent 
 expreflions which fill the vocabulary of Botany, and dif- 
 tufe obfcurity over its defcriptions. 
 
 After all, 1 fhall be afked, How would you charafterize 
 the aggregation of the flov;ers of the two plants which 
 have jufl been mentioned ? By referring them to aggrega- 
 tions fimilar to thofe of the plants of our climates. In 
 this there can be no difficulty : Thus, for example, we 
 mi^rht refer the affemblage of the flowers of the Grecian 
 heliotrope, to that of the French, or Peruvian heliotrope : 
 And that of the flowers of the Cretan fl;achis, to that of 
 the flowers of the horehound, or of the pennyroyal. To 
 this might afterwards be. added the differences in colour, 
 fmellj favour, which diverfify the fpecies of it. There 
 is no occafion to compound foreign terms to defcribe 
 forms which are familiar to lis. Nay, I defy any one to 
 convey by Greek and Latin words, and with the moft 
 learned turn of periphrafis, the Ample colour of a bark of 
 a tree. But if you tell me it rcfembles that of an oak ; I 
 have the fliade of it at once. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 1^3 
 
 Thefe approximations^ of plants have this farther utility^ 
 tliat they prefent us with the combined whole of an un- 
 known obj-eft, with^pMt which we can form no determin- 
 ate idea of it. This is one of the defefts of Botany, it 
 exhibits the charafters of vegetables only in fucceffion ; 
 it does not col left them, it decompounds them. - It refers 
 them, indeed, to a claflical order, but not to an individual 
 order. This, however, is the only one which the weak- 
 ncfs of the human mind permits us to catch. We love, 
 order, becaufe we are feeble, and becaufe the leaft confu- 
 fion difturbs us ; now, there is no order which we can a- 
 dopt more eafily than that which approaches to an order 
 which is familiar to us, and which Nature is every where 
 prefenting. Try to defcribe a man, feature by feature, 
 limb by limb ; be ever fo exaft, yet you never will be a- 
 ble to give me his portrait : But if you refer him to fomc 
 known per fonage ; if you teil me, for example, that he is 
 of the make and mien of a Don Quixote ; or with a nofe 
 like that of St. Charles Baromec, and fo on, and you paint 
 me his pifture in four words. It is to the whole of an 
 objeft that the ignorant, an epithet which includes the 
 greateft part of Mankind, attach themfelves in the firfl; in- 
 (tance, in order to acquire the knowledge of it. 
 
 It would, therefore, be of efTential importance to have, 
 in Botany, an alphabet of colours, favours, fmells, forms, 
 and aggregations, derived from our moft common plants. 
 Thofe elementary charafters would enable us to exprefs 
 Qurfelves exaftly in all the parts of Natural Hiftory, and 
 to prefent to ourfelves relations equally new and curious. 
 In hope th^t perfons of fupcrior intelligence may here- 
 after be induced to take up the fubjeft, I proceed to the 
 difcuflion of it with what ability I have, notwithftanding 
 the embarraffment of language. 
 
 When we fee a multitude of plants, of different forms, 
 vegetate on the fame foil, there is a difpofition to believe, 
 that thofe of the fame climate grow indifferently ever); 
 where. But thofe only which are produced in place?.. 
 
164 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 particularly afligned to them by Nature, attain there all 
 the perfeclion of which they are fufceptible. The fame 
 thing holds good with refpeft to 'Animals. Goats are 
 fometjmes reared in marfhy places, and ducks on the 
 mountains ; but the goat never will acquire, in Holland, 
 the beauty of that which Nature clothes with filk on the 
 rocks of Angora ; nor will the duck of Angora ever at- 
 tain the ftature and the colours of thofe which are to be 
 found in the canals of Holland. 
 
 If we throw a fimple glance on plants, we fhall per- 
 ceive that they have relations to the elements which pro- 
 mote their growth ; that they have relations to each other, 
 from the groups which they contribute to form ; that 
 they have relations to the animals which derive nourifh- 
 ment from them ; and, finally, to Man, who is the centre 
 of all the Works of Creation. To thefe relations I give 
 the name of harmonies, and I divide them into elemen- 
 tary, into vegetable, into animal and into human. 
 
 By propofing this divifion, I fhall reduce to fomething 
 like order the difquifition on which I am going to enter. 
 It cannot be fuppofed that I ftiould examine them in de- 
 tail : thofe of a Tingle fpecies would furnifh fpeculations, 
 which the application of a whole life could not exhauft ;- 
 but I (hall unfold enough ot their general harmonies to 
 produce conviftlon, that an infinite Intelligence reigns 
 in this amiable part of Creation, as in the reft of the Uni- 
 verfe. 
 
 We fhall thus make application of the Laws which 
 we have prcviouflv eflablifhed, and fhall take a glimpfe 
 of Li multitude of others, equally worthy of refearch, and 
 equally calculated to excite admiration. Reader, be not 
 aftonifhed at either their number, or their extent. Let 
 this great truth be deeply irapreffed on thy heart : GOD 
 has made nothing in vain I A fcholar, with his fyflems 
 ^nd methods, finds himfelf flopped fhort in nature every 
 ^ep he takes ; while furniflied with this as a key, the ig- 
 norant mflic is able to unlock every door of knowledge. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 165 
 
 ELEMENTARY HARMONIES OF PLANTS. 
 
 Plants have as many principal parts as there are ele- 
 ments with which they keep up a relation. By their 
 flowers, they ftand related to the Sun, which fecundates 
 their feeds, and carries therp on to maturity; by their 
 leaves, they are related to the waters, which bedew them ; 
 by their Hems, to the winds which agitate them ; by their 
 roots, with the ground which fuftains them ; and by their 
 grains, with their fituations adapted to their growth and 
 increafe. Not that thefe principal parts have no indirc6l 
 relations befides to the other elements, but it will be fuf- 
 ficient for our purpofe to dwell on fuch as are immediate. 
 
 Elementary Harmonies of Plants zvith the Sun, by the 
 Flowers. 
 
 Though Botanifts may have made great and laborious 
 refearches refpefting plants, they have paid no attention 
 to any of thofe relations. Fettered by their fyilems, they 
 have attached themfelves to the confideration ol them, 
 particularly on the fide of the flowers : and have arran- 
 ged them in the fame clafs, wherever they found thefe ex- 
 ternal refemblances without fo much as enquiring what 
 might be the particular ufe of the florifi cation. They 
 have, indeed, diftinguifhed in it the (lamina, the antheras, 
 and the fligmata, for tlie fecundation of the fruit, but, ex- 
 cepting this, and fome others, which refpe6i; the interior 
 organization, they -have negle6led, or mifunderllood, the 
 relations which the whole plant has with the reft of Nature. 
 
 This partial divifion has led them into the flrangeft 
 cppfuiion; for, by confiderlng the flowers as the princi. 
 
i66 A VINDICATION of 
 
 pal chara61er5 of vegetation, and by comprehending in the 
 fame clafs thofe which were fimilar, they have united 
 plants entirely foreign to each other, and have feparated, 
 on the contrary, many which are evidently of the fame 
 genus. Such is, in thefirft cafe, the fuller's thiflle, called 
 ij'z^^rz^j, which they clafs with the fcabious, becaufe of 
 the refcmblance of fome parts of its flower; though it 
 prefents in its branches, its leaves, its fmell, its feed, its 
 prickles, and the reft of its qualities, a real thiftle : And 
 fuch is, in the fecond, the great chefnut of India, which 
 they exclude from the clafs of chefnut trees, becaufe it 
 has different flowers. To clafs plants from the flowers, 
 that is, from the parts of their fecundation, is the fame 
 thing with clafTmg animals from thofe of generation. 
 
 However, though they have referred the charafter of a 
 plant to its flower, they mifunderftand the ufe of its mofi 
 fhining part, which is that of the corolla. They call that 
 the corolla, which is, in common language, denominated 
 the leaves of a flower. It is a Latin word, fignifying a 
 little crown, from the difpofition of the leaves, in many 
 fpecies, in the form of coronets, and they have given the 
 name of petals to the divifions of that crown. Some, in 
 truth, have acknowledged it to be properly adapted for 
 covering the parts of fecundation before the expanfion of 
 the flower; but its calix is much better adapted to this 
 purpofe, from its thicknefs, from its beards, and fome- 
 times from the prickles with which it is invelled. Be-^ 
 fides, when the corolla leaves the ftamina expofed, and 
 when it continues fully blown for whole weeks, it muft 
 of neceinty be anfwering fome other purpofe ; for Nature 
 does nothing in vain. 
 
 The corolla feems intended to reverberate the rays of 
 the Sun on the parts of fecundation; and we fliall be put 
 beyond the reach of doubt as to. this, if we confider the 
 colour and the form of it in moft flowers. It has been 
 remarked in the preceding Study, that of all colours, 
 white is the moll proper for refle6ling the heat \ Now, it^ 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 167 
 
 is, in general, that which Nature beftows on the floweri 
 that blow at cold feafons and in cold places, as we fee is 
 the cafe in the fnow drop, the lily of the valley, the hya- 
 cinth, the narciffus, and the anemone nemerofa, which 
 come into flower early in the Spring. We muft likewife 
 aflign to this colour fuch as have flight fliades of the rofe 
 and of the azure, as many hyacinths; as well as thofe 
 which have yellow and fliining tints, as the flowers of the 
 dandelion, the butter flower of the meadow, and the wall 
 gillyflower. But fuch as blow at warm feafons, and in 
 warm fituations, as the cockle, the wild poppy, and the 
 blue bottle, which grow in Summer amongfl; the corn, are 
 drefled in ftrong colours, fuch as purple, deep red, and 
 blue ; for thefe abforb the heat without greatly reflefting it. 
 
 I do not know, however, that there are any flowers en- 
 tirely black; for in that cafe, its petals, defl:itute of al! 
 power of refleftion, would be entirely ufelefs. In general, 
 of whatever colour a flower may be, the under part of its 
 corolla, which reflefts the rays of the Sun, is of a much 
 paler tint than the reft. This is fo very remarkable, that 
 Botanifts, who generally confider the colours of flowers 
 as accidents merely, difl;inguifh it by the name of ungui- 
 cuius (a little nail.) The unguicle is that with relation 
 to the flower which the belly is with relation to animals : 
 Its fliade is always clearer than that of the refl: of the petal. 
 
 The forms of flowers are no lefs adapted than their col- 
 ours to refleft the heat. Their corollce, divided into pe- 
 tals, are only an aflemblage of mirrors direfted toward 
 one focus. Of thefe they have fometimes four, which are 
 plain, as the flower of the colewort in the cruciform ; or 
 a complete circle, as the daify in the clafs of radiated ; or 
 fpherical portions, as the rofe ; or entire fpheres, as the 
 bells ot the lily of the valley ; or cones mutilated, as the 
 foxglove, the corolla of which is formed like a fewing 
 thimble. 
 
 Natur-e has placed, at the focufes of thefe, plain, fpher- 
 ical, elliptical, parabolic^ and other mirrors, the parts of 
 
i6g A VINDICATION Of 
 
 the fecundation of plants, as fhe has placed thofe of gener- 
 ation' in animals, in the warmeil parts of their bodies. 
 Hiefe curves, which Geometricians have not yet examin- 
 ed, merit their moft profound refearches. Is it not afton- 
 idling, that they fhould have beflowed fuch learned pains 
 to find out curves altogether imaginary, and frequently 
 ufelefs ; and that they fliould have neglecled to lludy 
 thofe which Nature employs fo regularly, and in fuch va- 
 riety, in an infinite number of objefts ? Be this as it may^ 
 Botanifls have given themfelvcs ftill lefs trouble about 
 the matter. They comprehend thofe of flowers under a 
 fmall number of clafTes, without paying the flighteft at- 
 tendon to their ufc, nay, without fo much as apprehend- 
 ing that they could have any. They confine themfelves 
 entirely to the divifion of their petals, which frequently 
 change nothing of the configuration of their curves ; and 
 they frequently clafs under the fame name thofe which are 
 the mofl oppofite. Thus, under the general defignation 
 of the 7nonopetaloiis, (thofe that have a fingle petal) they 
 include the fpheroid of the lily of the valley, and the 
 trumpet of the convolvulus. 
 
 On this fubjeft, a very remarkable circumftance claims 
 our notice ; namely, that, frequently, fuch as is the curve 
 formed by the border, or upper extremity of the petals 
 fuch too is the plan of the whole petal itfelf ; fo that Na- 
 ture prefents to us the cut or fhape of each flower in the 
 contour of its petals, and gives us at once, its plan and 
 its elevation. Thus rofes, and the whole tribe bearing 
 this denomination, have the border of their petals in 
 feftions of a circle, like the curve of the flowers them- 
 felves ; the pink and blue bottle, which have their fel- 
 vnge notched, prcfcnt the plans of their flowers plait- 
 ed up like fans, and form a multitude ot focufes. 
 
 For want of the real flower, thefe curious remarks may 
 be verified from the drawings of Painters who have been 
 the moft exaft in copying plants, but who arc indeed very 
 few in number. Such is, among thofe few, AiibnH, whc 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 169 
 
 h'as drawn the plants of Toiirnefort^ voyage to the Levant, "^^ 
 with the tafte of a Painter, and the precifion of a Botanift. 
 You may there fee the confirmation of what I have juft 
 been advancing. For example, tht Jcorzonera GrcEcafax- 
 atilis & 7nanti?na foliis vane laciniatis, (the Greek fax- 
 atile and marine fcorzonera, with leaves varioufly fcoUop- 
 edj which is there reprefented, as its petals, or half flow- 
 ers, fquared at the extremity, and plane in their furfacc. 
 The flower of the Jiachis Cretica latifolia, (the broad leav- 
 ed fl:achis of Crete) which is a monopetalous tubular plant, 
 has the upper part of its corolla undulated, as well as its 
 tube. The campanula Graca faxatilis jacobecR foliis , (the 
 Greek bell flower of the rocks, with ragwort leaves) pre- 
 fents thefe confonances in a manner fliill more fl;rikingi 
 This campanula, which Tournefort conflders as the mofl: 
 beautiful he had ever feen, and which he fowed in the 
 Royal Garden at Paris, where it fucceeded very well, is 
 of the pentagonal form. Each of its faces is formed of 
 two portions of a circle, the focufes of which, undoubted- 
 Jy, meet on the fame anthera ; and the border of this cam- 
 panula is notched into five parts, each of which is like- 
 wife cut into the form of a Gothic arch, as each fubdivi- 
 fion of the flower is. Thus, in order to know, at once, 
 the curve of a flower, it is fufficient to examine the brim 
 of its petal. 
 
 It is of much utility to attend to this obfervation, for 
 otherwife it would be extremely difficult to determine the 
 focufes of the petals. Befides, flowers lofe their internal 
 curves in berberies. I believe thefe confonances to be 
 general ; I prefume not however, to aflert, that they ad^ 
 mit of no exceptions. Nature may deviate from this or- 
 der, in fome fpecies, for reafons which I know not. It 
 cannot be too frequently repeated ; She has no general 
 and unvarying Law, except the accommodation of beings 
 endowed with fenfibility. The relations juft now fnggefl' 
 
 * Tcurn'fviVi Voyage tn ilif. Leviht. vol. :. 
 VOL, H. X 
 
ijo A VINDICATION of 
 
 ed, between the curve of the brim and that of the pefaJ^ 
 feem, befide, to be founded on this univerfal Law^ as they 
 prefent conformities of fuch agreeable approximation. 
 
 The petals appear to fuch a degree d^ftined to warm- 
 the parts of fecundation, that Nature has placed a circle of 
 them around moft compound flov/ers, which are themfelves 
 aggregations of fmall tubes, infinite in number, that form 
 fo many particular flowers, or, if you will, flowrets. This 
 is obvioully remarkable in the petals which furround the 
 difks of daifies and funflo^vers. They are likewife to be 
 met with around moft of the umbelliferous plants : 
 Thouo-h each flowret, which compofes them, has its par- 
 ticular petals, there is a circle of others ftill greater, which 
 encompafTes their aflemblage, as you may fee in the flow- 
 ers of the daucus. 
 
 Nature has ftill other means of multiplying the reflexes 
 of heat in flowers. Sometimes fhc places them on ftem» 
 of no great elevation, in order to colleft warmth from the 
 reflections of the Earth ; fometimes fiie glazes over their 
 corollac with a fliining varnifli, as the yellow meadow 
 ranunculus, known by the trivial name of butter flower. 
 Sometimes flie withdraws the corolla, and makes the parts 
 of fecundation to flioot from the partition of an ear, of a 
 cone, or of the branch of a tree. The forms of the fpike, 
 and of the cone, appear to be the heft adapted for reverbe- 
 rating on them the aftion of the Sun, and to enfure their 
 fruclification ; for they always prefent fome one fide or 
 another flickered from the cold. Nay, it is very remark- 
 able, that the aggregation of flowers, in a conical and fpike 
 form, is very common to herbs and to trees of the North, 
 and rarely to be found in thofc of the S^uth. Moft of 
 the gramineous plants which I have feen in fouthern 
 Countries, do not carry their grains in a fpike, or clofcly 
 compacted ear, but in flowing tufts, and divided into a 
 multitude of particular ftems, as the millet and rice. The 
 maize, or Turkey corn, I admit, bears its grains in a large 
 tar ; but that ear is for a conflderable time flnit up m a 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 
 
 171 
 
 f^ag ; and on burfting from it, pufhes away over its head 
 a long covering of hair, which feems entirely deftined to 
 the purpofe of fheltering its flowers from the heat of the 
 Sun. 
 
 Finally, what confirms me in the belief, that the flowers 
 of plants are adapted to the aclion of heat, conformably 
 to the nature of every climate, is this, that many ot our 
 European plants vegetate extremely well in the Antilles 
 Iflands, but never come to feed there. Father du Tertre 
 obferved, that in thofe iflands,* the cabbage, the fainfoin, 
 the lucern, the favory, the fweetbafil, the nettle, the plan- 
 tain, the wormwood, thefage, the liverwort, the amaranth, 
 and all our fpecies of gramineous plants, throve there won- 
 derfully well, but never produced grains. Thefe obfer- 
 vations demonfl:rate, that it is neither the air, nor the foil, 
 which is inimical to them ; but the Sun, which aft s with 
 too much vivacity on their flowers, for moft of thefe 
 plants have theirs aggregated into an ear, which greatly 
 increafes the repercuflion of the folar rays. 
 
 I believe, at the fame time, that luch plants might be 
 naturalized in the Wefl:india Iflands, as well as many oth- 
 ers of our temperate climates, by felefting from the varie- 
 ties of their fpecies, thofe whofe fl.owers have the fmaliefl: 
 fields, and whofe colours are the deepefl:, or thofe whofe 
 pannicles are divergent. 
 
 Not that Nature has no other refources except fuch as 
 thefe, to make plants of the fame genus attain perfeftion 
 in different feafons and climates. She can render their 
 flowers capable of reflefting the heat, in different degrees 
 of Latitude, without any very fenfible alteration ot the 
 form. Sometimes flie mounts them on elevated fl;ems, to 
 remove them from the influence of the refleftion of the 
 ground. It is thus fhe has placed, between the Tropics, 
 mofl: of the apparent flowers upon trees. I have feen but 
 few there in the meadows, but a great many in the forefl;s. 
 
 * Natural Hiflory of ihc Antilles, by Father du Tcrtr:. 
 
172 A VINDICATION of 
 
 In thofc countries, you muft look aloft, in order to have 
 a fignt of flowers ; in our native climes, wcmuft call our 
 eyes on the ground, for this purpofe ; for with us flowers 
 grow on herbage and fhrubbery. Sometimes flie expands 
 them under the fliade of leaves ; fuch are thofe of the 
 palm tree, of the banana, and of the jacquier, which grow 
 clofe to the trunk of the tree. Such, likewife, are, in our 
 temperate climates, thofe large white bell formed flowers, 
 known by the name of Lady's fmock, which delight in 
 the fliade of the willow. 
 
 There are others, fuch as moil part of the convolvolufes, 
 which expand only in the night ; others grow clofe to the 
 ground, and expofed, as the panfy, but their drapery is 
 daflcy and velveted. There are fome which receive the 
 aftion of the Sun when at a confiderable height, as the tu- 
 lip ; but Nature has taken her precautions fo exaftly, as 
 to bring out this ftately flower only in the Spring, to 
 pamt its petals with ftrong colours, and to daub the bot- 
 tom of its cup with black.* Others aredifpofed in giran- 
 
 * This flower, from its colour, is. in Pcrfia, the emblem of perfed lov- 
 ers. Chardin tells us, that, when a young Perfian prefents a tulip to his 
 miftrefs, it is his intention to convey to her this idea, that, like this flower, 
 he has a countenance all on fire, and a heart reduced to a coal. There is no 
 one Work of Nature, but what awakens in man fome moral affcftion. 
 The habits of fociety infcufibly efface, at length, the fentinient of it ; but 
 we always find it in vigor among Nations who flill live near to Nature. 
 
 Many alphabets have been imagined in China, in the earlier ages, after 
 the wings of birds, Hihes, fiiells and flowers ; Of thefc, very curious char- 
 aftcrs may be feen in the China illuflrated of Father Kerchcr. It is from 
 the influence of thofe natural manners, that the Orientals employ fo many 
 fimilitudes and comparifons in their languages. Though our metaphyfical 
 eloquence makes no great ufe of them, they frequently produce, neverthe- 
 ]efs, a very ftriking efFeft. J. J. Roujjeau has taken notice of that which 
 the Ambaffador of the Scythians propofed to Darius, Without fpeaking a, 
 \vord, he prcfented him with a bird, a frog, a moufe and five arrows.f 
 Herodotus relates, that the fame Darius fent word to the Greeks of Ionia, 
 
 •f Darius, at firfl, underflood this as a complete fuircr.drr of Scythian independence in- 
 to his hands ; but the event inftrufclcd him, that tliis high fpirited people intended to con. 
 vcj- a bold defiance : " Unlefs youcan fly as abiid, dig asa moufe, fwim ai a frog, oiu at- 
 " rovvi fliall i.wcn yon." H. il. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 17^ 
 
 iloles, and receive the efie8; of the folar rays only under 
 one point of the compafs. Such is the girandole of the 
 lilach, which pointing with various afpefts, to the Eait, 
 to the South, to the Weft and to the North, prefents, on 
 the fame clufter, flowers in bud, half open, fully blown, 
 fadino-, and all the delightful fhades of the florification. 
 
 There are flowers, fuch as the compound, which being 
 in a horizontal pofition, and completely expofed, behold 
 the Sun, like the Horizon itfelf, from his. rifmg to his fet^ 
 ting ; of this defcription is the flower of the dandelion. 
 But it poflefl'es very peculiar means of flieltering itfelf 
 from the heat : It clofes entirely whenever the heat be- 
 comes exceflive. It has been obferved to open, in Sum- 
 mer, at half an hour after five in the morning, and to col- 
 le6l its petals toward the centre, about nine o'clock. The 
 flower of the garden lettuce, which is, on the contrary, in 
 a vertical plane, opens at feven o'clock, and fiiuts at ten. 
 
 From a ferics of fimilar obferyations it was, that the 
 celebrated Linnaus had formed a botanical time piece; 
 for he had found plants which opened their flowers at ev- 
 ery hour of the day, and of the night. There is cultivat- 
 ed in the King's Garden, at Paris, a fpecies of ferpentine 
 aloes, without prickles, whofe large and beautiful flower 
 exhales a ftrong odour of the vanilla, during the time of 
 its expanfion, which is very fliort. It does not blow lili 
 toward the month of July, and about five o'clock in the 
 evening ; You then perceive it gradually open its petals, 
 expand them, fade and die. By ten o'clock of the fame 
 night, it is totally withered, to the great aftonifhment of 
 the fpe61ators, who flock in crowds to the fight ; for what 
 
 u'ho were laying wafte the country, that if ihey did not give over their dc.^ 
 predations, he would treat them like pines. The Greeks, who by this 
 time had become infefted with wit, and had proportionally begun to lofe 
 fight of Nature, did not comprehend the meaning of this. Upon enquiry, 
 they at length difcovcred that Darius meant they fhould underftand it to be 
 His refolution utterly to exterminate them ; for the pine tfte, pnpe cul! 
 4own, fljoois out again no more. 
 
174 A VINDICATION of 
 
 is uncommon is alone admired. The flower of our com- 
 mon thorn, I do not mean that of the white thorn, is flill 
 more extraordinary ; for it flowers fo rapidly, that there 
 is fcarce time to obferve its expanfion. 
 
 Thefe obfervations, taken in their connexion, clearly 
 demonflrate the relations of the corollae to the heat of the 
 Sun. To all thofe which have gone before, I fhall fub- 
 join one more, by way of conclufion, which evidently 
 proves the ufe for which they are intended ; it is this, 
 The duration of their exiftence is regulated by the quan- 
 tity of heat which it is their deftination to colleft. The 
 hotter it is, the fliorter is their duration. They almoft all 
 drop off as foon as the plant is fecundated. 
 
 But if Nature withdraws the greateft number of flowers 
 from the too violent a6tion of the Sun, flie deftines others 
 to appear in all the luftre of his rays, without fuftaining 
 the leaft injury from them. On the firft flie beftows 
 dufl<^y refleftors, or fuch as can clofe themfelves as occa- 
 fion requires ; flie provides others with parafols. Such 
 is the crown imperial, whofe flowers, like a bell inverted, 
 grow under the fliade of a tuft of leaves. The chryfanthe- 
 mum peruvianum, or to employ a better known term, the 
 turnfol, which turns continually toward the Sun, covers 
 itfelf, like Peru, the country from which it comes, with 
 dewy clouds, which cool and refrefli its flowers, during 
 the moft violent heat of the day. The white flower of 
 the lychnis, which blows in our fields, in Summer, and 
 prefents, at a diftance, the refemblance of a Maltefe crofs, 
 has a fpecies of contraction, or narrow collar, placed at its 
 centre. To that its large fhining petals turned back out- 
 wardly, do not aft upon its flamina. The white narcifl'us 
 has, in like manner, a fmall tunnel. But Nature fl;ands 
 in no need to create new parts, in order to communicate 
 new charafters to her Works. She deduces them, at 
 once, from exiftence and from nonexiftence ; and renders 
 them politive, or negative, at her plcafure. She has given 
 curves to mofl flowers, for the puipofe of collefting the 
 

 Jl.k un.,,,^1 /'fa. 
 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 175 
 
 heat at their centre : She employs the fame curves, when 
 fhe thinks proper, in order to diflipate the heat ;' She 
 places the focufes of them fo as to zEt outwardly. It is 
 thus that the petals of the lily are difpofed, which are fo 
 many feftions of the parabola. Notwithftanding the large 
 (ize and the whitenefs of its cup, the more it expands, the 
 more it difperfes the fervent heat of the Sun ; and while, 
 in the middle of Summer, at noon day, all other flowers, 
 parched by his burning rays, droop and bend their heads 
 to the ground, the lily rears his head like a king, and con- 
 templates, face to face, the dazzling orb, which is travel- 
 ling majeftically through the Heavens. 
 
 I proceed to difplay, in a few words, the pofitive, or 
 negative, relations of flowers, with refpeft to the Sun, to 
 the five elementary forms which I have laid down, in the 
 preceding; Study, as the principles of the harmony of bod- 
 ies. This is not fo much a plan which I take upon me 
 to prefcribe to Botaniflis as an invitation to engage in a ca- 
 reer fo rich in obfervations, and to correft my errors by 
 communicating fome portion of their knowledge. 
 
 There are, therefore, reverberating flowers perpeiidicu* 
 lar, conical, fpherical, elliptical, parabolic, or plane. To 
 thefe curves may be referred moft of the curves of flow- 
 ers. There are, likewife, fome flowers in form of a para- 
 fol, but the others are much more numerous ; for the neg- 
 ative effe6ls, in every harmony, are in much greater num- 
 ber than the pofitive effefts. For example, there is but 
 one fingle way of coming into life, and there are thoufands 
 of going out of it. -We fliall oppofe, however, to every 
 pofitive relation of flowers to the Sun, a principal nega- 
 tive relation, that we may be enabled to compare their ef- 
 fefts in every Latitude. 
 
 Perpendicular reverberating flowers are thofe 
 w^hich grow adhering by the back to a cone, to long cat- 
 kins, or to an ear : Such are thofe of the cedar, of the 
 larch, of the fir, of the birch, of the juniper ; of mofl: of 
 the northern gramineous plants, of the vegetables of cold 
 
i;6 A VINDICATION of 
 
 and iofty mountains, as the cyprefs and the pine ; or of 
 thofe ^vhich flower in our climates about the end of Win- 
 ter, as the hazel and the willow. A part of the flowers 
 in this pofition is Ihcltered from the North wind, and re- 
 ceives the reflection of the Sun from the South fide. 
 
 It is remarkable that all vegetables vrhich bear cones, 
 catkins, or fpikes, prefent them at the extremity of their 
 items, expofed to all the aftion of the Sun. It is not fo 
 with thofe which grow within the Tropics ; mofl of which, 
 fucli as the palm tree, bear divergent flowers, attached to 
 pendent cluiters, and ihaded by their branches. The 
 greatell part of the gramineous plants of warm countries, 
 have likewife divergent ears ; fuch are the millets ot Af- 
 rica. The folid ear of the American maize is crowned 
 with a hairv tuft which fhe Iters its flowers from the Sun. 
 On the annexed plate are reprefented an ear of European 
 corn, and an ear ot the rice ot fouthern Afia, to furnifh 
 the means ot comparifon. 
 
 Conical reverberating flowers refleft on the parts oi 
 fiorlfication a complete cone ot light. Its aftion is very 
 powerful ; and it is, accordingly, very remarkable, that 
 Nature has given this configuration of petal only to flow- 
 ers, which grow under the Ihade of trees, as to the con- 
 volvulus, which fcrambles up around their trunk ; and 
 that file has alTigned to this flower a very tranfient dura- 
 tion, for it fcarcely lafls halt a day ; and when its fecun- 
 dation is completed, the border contracts inwardly, 
 and gathers together like a purfe. Nature has, however, 
 given it a place in fouthern latitudes, but flie has there 
 linged it with violet and blue, in order to weaken the ef- 
 fe6t. Berides,tliis flower fcarcely ever opens in hot coun- 
 tries, except in the night. From this nofturnal chara6ter, 
 I preuime, it is, that we are chiefly enabled to diftinguifh 
 the convolvulus of the South, from that of our own cli- 
 mates, which blows in the day time. In the plate we 
 liave reprefented the day convolvulus, or .that which is 
 native with us expanded ; and tliat of the night, or (>f hot 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. J7-, 
 
 countries, clofed; the one having a pofitive charafter 
 with the light, and the other a negative charafter. 
 
 The flowers which partake the moft of this conical 
 form are thofe which grow early in the Spring, as the 
 flower of the arum, which is formed like a cornet; or 
 thofe which thrive on lofty mountains, as the bears ear of 
 the Alps. When Nature employs it in Summer, it is al- 
 moft always with negative charafters, as in the flowers of 
 the foxglove, which are inclined, and died a deep red, or 
 blue colour. 
 
 Spherical reverberating flowers, aie thofe whofe pet- 
 als are formed into fegments of a circle. One might a- 
 mufe himfelf very agreeably, inobfervingthat thefe fpher- 
 ically formed petals have, at their focufesj the antherae of 
 the flower fupported on fibrets, longer or fliorter, as the 
 cffeft intended may require. It deferves farther to be re- 
 marked, that each petal is adapted to its particular anthera, 
 foraetimes to two, or even to three : So that the number 
 of petals in a flower divides, almoft always, exaftly that 
 of the antherae. As to the petals, they fcarcely ever ex- 
 ceed the number of five, in rofe formed flowers, as if Na- 
 ture had defigned to exprefs, in that, the number of the 
 five terms of elementary progreflion, of which this beauti- 
 ful form is the harmonic expreflfion. 
 
 Spherical reverberating flowers are very common in our 
 temperate climates. They do not throw back the whole 
 refleftion of their diflcs on the antherae, like the convolv- 
 ulus, but only the fifth part, becaufe each of their petals' 
 has its particular focus. The rofe formed flower is fpread 
 over moft fruit trees, as the apple, the pear, the peach, the 
 plum, the apricot, and the like ; and over a great part of 
 our flirubbery and herbage, fuch as the black and white 
 thorn, the bramble, the anemone, and many others, mofl: 
 of which produce for Man a nutritious fruit, and which 
 flower in the month of May. To this form may be like- 
 wife referred fuch as are fpheroidal ; the lily of the valley, 
 for example. 
 
 VOL. II, Y 
 
i;8 A VINDICATION of 
 
 This form, which is the harmonic exprefllon of the five 
 elementary forms, was admirably adapted to a temperature 
 like ours, which is itfelf the proportional medium between 
 that of the Icy and of the Tomd Zone. As fpherical re- 
 fl'eftors colleft a great quantity of rays at their focufes, 
 their aft ion is very powerful, but, at the fame time, of 
 Very tranfient duration. It is well known that nothing 
 fades more quickly than a rofe. 
 
 Rofe formed flowers are very rare between the Tropics, 
 efpecially thofe whofe petals are white. They thrive only 
 under the fliade of trees. I have known many of the in- 
 habitants of the Ifle of France make fruitlefs efforts to 
 raife ftrawberries there ; but one of them, who lived, in- 
 deed, in an elevated part of the Ifland, found means of pro- 
 curing them in great plenty, by planting his beds under 
 trees, in ground but half cleared. 
 
 As a compenfation for this, Nature 'has. multiplied, in 
 warm countries, papilionaceous, or leguminous flowers. 
 The leguminous flower is entirely oppofite to the rofe 
 formed. It ufually has five rounded petals, like the other : 
 But inflead of being difpofed round the centre of the flow- 
 er, in order to reverberate thither the rays of the Sun, they 
 are, on the contrary, folded inward, around the antherae, 
 for the purpofe of fheltering them. You diflinguiih in 
 them, a pavilion, two wings, and a ridge, ufually divided 
 into two, by which the antherae and the embryon of the 
 fruit are clofely covered over. Between the Tropics, ac- 
 cordingly, a great number of trees, fhrubs, creepers and 
 grafTes, have papilionaceous flowers. Every fpecies of 
 otir peafe and French beans, fucceed there wonderfully 
 well, and thofe countries produce infinite varieties of them. 
 Nay, it is remarkable, that even at home, thofe plants de- 
 light in a fandy and warm foil, and exhibit their flowers 
 in the middle of Summer. I confider leguminous flow- 
 ers, therefore, as of the parafol kind. To thofe fame neg- 
 ative effcfts of the Sun may, likewife, be referred the form 
 «f flowers with gullets, which conceal their antherjc, fuck 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ijg 
 
 as the calfs fnout, which takes pleafure in blowing on the 
 fides of walls. 
 
 Elliptical reverberating flowers are thofe which 
 prefent oval formed cups, narrower at top than in the 
 middle. It is very perceptible that this form of cup, the 
 perpendicular petals of which approach toward each odier 
 at the fummit, fhelters, in part, the bottom of the flower : 
 And that the curves of thefe fame petals, which have fcv- 
 cral focufes, do not colle6l; the rays of the Sun toward one 
 fmgle centre : Such is the tulip. It is remarkable, that this 
 oblong formed flower is more common in warm countries 
 than the rofe formed. The tulip grows fpontaneoufly in 
 the vicinity of Conftantinople. To this form may like- 
 wife be referred that of the liliaceous, which are more 
 common there than elfewhere. However, when Nature 
 employs them in countries ftill farther to the South, or in 
 the middle of Summer, it is almoft always with negative 
 charafters ; thus, flie has inverted the tulip form flowers 
 of the imperial, which is originally from Perfia, and has 
 (haded them with a tuft of foliage. Thus, flie bends back 
 outwardly, in our climates, the petals of the lily ; but the 
 fpecies of white lilies which grow between the tropics, 
 have, befides, their petals cut out into thongs. 
 
 Flowers with parabolic, or plane, mirrors, are 
 thofe which refleft the rays of the Sun in parallel direc- 
 tions. The configuration of the firft gives much luftre 
 to the corolla of thefe flowers, which emit from their bo- 
 fom, if I may be allowed the expreflion, a bundle of light, 
 for they colleft it toward the bottom of their corolla, and 
 not on the antherae. It is, perhaps, in order to weaken 
 the aftion of it, that Nature has terminated flowers of this 
 iorm in a fpecies of cowl, which Botanifts call fpur. It 
 is probably in this tube that the focus of their parabola 
 terminates, which is, perhaps, fituated there, as in many 
 curves of this kind, beyond its fummit. Flowers of this 
 fort are frequent between the Tropics ; fuch is the flower 
 ©I the poincilkde of the Antilles, ofeherwife called the 
 
^8o A VINDICATION of 
 
 peacock flower, on account of its beauty ; fuch is alfo the 
 najlurtium, or nun of Peru. It is even pretended that the 
 perennial fpecies is phofphoric in the night time. 
 
 Flowers with plane mirrors produce the fame efFefts ; 
 and Nature has multiplied the models of them in our 
 Summer flowers, and in thofe which thrive in warm and 
 fandy foils, as the radiated ; fuch are the flowers of the 
 dandelion. We likewife meet with them in the flowers 
 ol the doronicum, of the lettuce, of the fuccory ; in the 
 afl;ers, in the meadow daify and others. But flie has plac- 
 ed the original model of them under the Line, in Amer- 
 ica, in the broad Sun flower, which we have borrowed 
 from Brafil. 
 
 Thefe being flowers whofe petals have the leaft aftivi- 
 ty, are likewife thofe which are of the longefl; duration. 
 Their attitudes are varied without end. Such as are hor- 
 izontal, like thofe of the dandelion, clofe, it is faid, to- 
 ward the middle of the day ; they are, likewife, fuch as 
 are the mofl expofed to the a6lion of the Sun, for they re- 
 ceive his rays from his rifing to his fetting. 
 
 There are others which, infl:ead of clofing their petals, 
 invert them, which produces nearly the fame effeft; fuch 
 is the flower of the camomile. Others are perpendicular 
 to the Horizon, as the flower of Lettuce. The blue col- 
 our, with which it is tinged, contributes, farther, towards 
 weakening the rays of the Sun, which, in this afpeft, 
 would aft too vehemently upon it. Others have only 
 four horizontal petals ; fuch as the cruci form ; the fpe- 
 cies of which are very common in hot countries. Oth- 
 ers bear, around their difl^, flowrets which overfliadow it ; 
 fuch is the blue bottle of the corn field, which is repre- 
 fented on the plate in oppofition to the daify. This laft 
 flowers early in the Spring, and the other in the middle of 
 Summer. 
 
 We have faid fomewhat of the general forms of flow- 
 ers, but we fhould never come to a conclufion, were we 
 to enter into a difculTion of their various aggregations. I 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 181 
 
 believe, however, that they may be refened to the plan 
 itfelf of the flowers. Thus the umbelliterous flowers pre- 
 fent themfelves to the Suii under the fame afpefts as the 
 radiated. 
 
 I mufl; beg leave to recapitulate only what has been fald 
 refpefting their refle6ling mirrors. The reverberated per- 
 pendicular, of a cone or ear form, colle6fs on the antheric 
 of the flowers, an arch of light of ninety degrees, from the 
 Zenith to the Horizon. It farther prefents, in the ine- 
 quality of its panels, reflefting furfaces. 
 
 The conical refleftor collefts a cone of light of fixty 
 degrees. The fpherical refleftor unites, in each of its five 
 petals, an arch of light ot thirtyfix degrees of the Sun's 
 courfe, fuppofing that Luminary to be in the Equator. 
 
 The elliptical refleftor collefts a fmaller quantity, from 
 the perpendicular pofition of its petals ; and the parabolie 
 refleftor, as well as that with plane mirrors, fends back 
 the rays of the Sun divergently, or in parallels. 
 
 The firfi; form appears to be very common in the flow- 
 ers of the icy Zones ; the fecond, in thofe which thrive 
 under the fliade ; the third, in temperate latitudes ; the 
 jfourth, in warm countries ; and the fifth, in the Torrid 
 Zone. It would likewife appear, that Nature multiplies 
 the divifions of their petals, in order to diminilh their ac- 
 tion. Cones and ears have no petals. The convolvulus 
 has but one ; rofe formed flowers have five; elliptical 
 flowers, as the tulip and the liliaceous, have fix; flow- 
 ers with plane reflectors, as the radiated, have a great num- 
 ber. 
 
 Farther, flowers have parts adapte(J to the other ele- 
 ments. Some are clothed externally with a hairy g?,r.. 
 ment, to flielter them from the cold. Others are formed 
 to blow on the furface of the water ; fuch are the yellow 
 rofes ot the nymphcca, which float on lakes, and accom- 
 modate themfelves to the various movements of the waves, 
 without being wet by them, by means of the long and pii- 
 ^t ilcnis to which they are attached, Thofe of the z'a/r/\^ 
 
i82 A VINDICATION of 
 
 neria are ftill more artfully difpofed. They grow in the 
 Rhone, and would be there expofed to frequent inunda- 
 tion by tlie fuddcn fwel lings of that river, had not Nature 
 given them flems formed like a corkfcrew, which draw 
 out at once to the length of three or four feet. 
 
 There are other flowers adapted to the winds and to 
 the rains, as thofe of pcafe, which are furniflied with little 
 boats to cover and flielter the flamina, and the embryons 
 of their fruits.* Befides, they have large pavilions, and 
 fefl on tails bent and elaflic, as a nerve ; fo that when the 
 wind blows over a field of peafe, you may fee all the 
 flowers turn their back to the wind, like Xo many weather 
 
 cocks. .;j :> ,' . 
 
 This clafs appears to be very generally diffufed over 
 places much expofed to the winds. Da?npier relates, that 
 he found the defert Ihores of New Guinea covered with 
 peafe, whofebloifoms were red and blue. In our climates, 
 the fern, which crowns the fummits of hills always bat- 
 tered with the wind and rain, bears its flower turned to- 
 ward the Earth, on the back of its leaves. There are even 
 certain fpecies of plants, the flowering of which is regu- 
 lated by the irregularity of the winds. Such are thofe, 
 the male and female individuals of which grow on feparate 
 ilems. Tofled hiilier and thither over the earth, frequently 
 at great diftances from each other, the powder of the male 
 flowers could fecundate but a very few female flowers, 
 unlefs, at the feafon of their florification, the wind blew 
 
 * I am pcrfuaded, that the bearing of mod flowers is adapted to the 
 rains, and for this rcafon it is that many of them have the form of mufflers, 
 or ridges, like little boats inverted, which fheltcr the parts of fecundation. 
 I have remarked that many fpecies of flowers poflefs the inftinft, (hall I 
 venture to call it ? of clofing thcmfelves when the air is humid, and that the 
 irnprcgnation of frujt tree bloifoms is injured much more by the rain than 
 by the froll. This oblcrvation is of cITential importance to gardeners, who 
 frequently caufc the llov;crs of their lliawberry plants to mifcarry by water- 
 ing them. As far as 1 can jodgc, it would be better to water plants, in 
 bloffom, by I'.itlc trcnchcj, according to the Indir.n method, rather ihau by 
 •ifperficn. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 183 
 
 from various quarters. Wonderful to be told! there are 
 invariable generations depending on the variablenefs of 
 the wind. Hence I prefume, that, in countries where the 
 winds always blow from the fame quarter, as between the 
 Tropics, this fpecies of florification muft be uncommon ; 
 and if it be found there at all, it muft be regulated prc- 
 cifely according to the feafon when thofe regular winds 
 vary. 
 
 It is impoflible to entertain a doubt refpefting thofe ad- 
 mirable relations, however remote they may appear, when 
 we obferve the attention with which Nature has preferv- 
 ed flowers from the fhocks to which they might be expof- 
 €d, from the winds themfelvcs, upon their Items. She 
 inwraps them, for the moft part, in an integument, which 
 Botanifts call the calix. The more ramous the plant is, 
 the thicker is the calix of its flower. She fometimes 
 fringes it with little cufhions and beards, as may be feen 
 in the rofe bud. Thus the mother puts a pad round the 
 head of her little child, to fecure it againft accidents from 
 falling. Nature has fo clearly marked her intention as to 
 this, in the cafe of the flowers of ramous plants, that fhe 
 has deprived of this clothing fuch as grow on ftems that, 
 are not branchy, and where they are in no danger from 
 the agitation of the winds. This may be remarked with 
 regard to the flowers of Solomon's feal, of the lily of the 
 valley, of the hyacinth, of the narciffus, of moft of the 
 liliaceous, and of plants which bear their flowers ifolated, 
 on perpendicular ftems. 
 
 Flowers have, farther, very curious relations with an- 
 imals and with Man, from the diverfity of their configur- 
 ations, and from their fmells. Thofe of one fpecies of 
 the orchis reprefent bugs, and exhales the fame unpleafant 
 odour. Thofe of a fpecies of the arum refembles putrid 
 flefh, and has the infeftion of it to fuch a degree, that the 
 flefh fly reforts thither to depofit her eggs. But thofe re- 
 lations, hitherto very fuperficially inveftigated, do not 
 Gome in fo properly under this article ; it is fufficient lor 
 
,8^ A VINDICATION of 
 
 mc to have here denionftrated, that they aftually have very^ 
 clearly marked relations with the elements, and efpecially 
 with the Sun. 
 
 When Botanifts (hall have diffufed over this branch of 
 the fubjeft all the light of which it is fufceptible, by ex- 
 amining their focufes, the elevation to which they rife a- 
 bove the ground, the fhelter, or the reflexion of the bod- 
 ies which are in their vicinity, the variety of their colours, 
 in a word, all the means by which Nature compenfates 
 the differences of their feveral expofures, and they will 
 no longer doubt about thofe elementary harmonies ; they 
 will acknowledge that the flower, far from prefenting an 
 unvarying charaQer in plants, exhibits, on the contrary, 
 a perpetual charafter of diverfity. It is by this, principal- 
 Iv, that Nature varies the fpecies in the fame genus of 
 plant, in order to render it fufceptible of fecundation, on 
 different fites. This explains the reafon why the flowers 
 of the great chefnut of India, but originally from Amer- 
 ica, are not the fame with thofe of the European chefnut ; 
 and that thofe of the fullers thiflle, which thrives on the 
 brink of rivers, are different from thofe of thiftles, which 
 grow in lofty and dry places. 
 
 A very extraordinary obfervation fhall ferve irrefraga- 
 bly to confirm all that we have juft now advanced : It is 
 this, that a plant fometimes totally changes the form of 
 its flowers in the generation which reproduces it. This 
 phenomenon greatly aftoniflied the celebrated LinncEus^ 
 the firfl time that it was fubmitted to his confideration. 
 One of his pupils brought him, one day, a plant perfeftly 
 fimilai to the linarium, the flower excepted ; the colour, 
 the favour, the leaves, the flcm, the root, the calix, the 
 pericarpium, the feed, in a word, the fmell. whi<:h is a re- 
 markable circumftance, were exaftly the fame, only its 
 flowers were in form of a tunnel, whereas thofe ot the lin- 
 iuium are gullet formed. Limiaus imagined, at firft, that 
 his pupil intended to put his knowledge to the teft, by 
 adapting a ilrangc flower to the ftem of that plant ; but he 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 185 
 
 fatisfied himfelf that it was a real linarium, the flower of 
 which Nature had totally changed. It had been found a- 
 mong other linaria, in an ifland, feven miles diftant from 
 Upfal, near the fhore of the fea, on a fandy and gravelly 
 bottom. He himfelf put it to the proof, that it reperpet- 
 uated itfelf in this new ftate by its feeds. He afterwards 
 found fome of it in other places : And, what is ftill more 
 extraordinary, there were, among thefe laft, fome which 
 carried on the fame ftalk flowers tunnel formed, and floW= 
 crs gullet formed. 
 
 He gave to this new vegetable the name of pelorum, 
 from the Greek word-TrsXa^p, which fignifies prodigy. He 
 afterwards 6bferved the fame variations in other fpecies of 
 plants, and among the reft, in the eriocephalous thiftle, 
 the feeds of which produce, every year, in the garden of 
 Upfal, the fantaftic thiftle of the Pyrennees.* This illuf- 
 luftrious Botanift accounts for thefe transformations, as 
 being the effeft of a mongrel generation, difturbed by the 
 fecundating farina of fome other flower m the vicinity. 
 It may be fo ; to his opinion, however, may be oppofed, 
 the flowers of the pelorum, and of the linarium, which he 
 found united on the fame individual. Had it been the 
 fecundation which transformed this plant, it ought to have 
 given fimilar flowers in the whole individual. Befides, he 
 himfelf has obferved, that there was not the flighteft con- 
 fufion in the other parts of the f elorum, any more than 
 in its virtues ; but this muft have been the cafe, as well as 
 in the flower, had it been produced by a mixture of fome 
 ftrange breed. Finally, the pelorum reproduced itfelf by 
 feed, which does not take place in any one mongrel fpe- 
 cies of animals. 
 
 This fl:erility, in mongrel branches, is an efFeft of the 
 fage confiftency of Nature, who cuts off" divergent genera- 
 tions, in order to prevent the primordial fpecies from be- 
 ing confounded, and from, at length, difappearing altogeth- 
 
 * Upfalian DHTertation, for December, 1714 > P^ge 59> ^o^^ ^' 
 VOL. II, Z 
 
i§6 A VINDICATION of 
 
 er. As to the reft, I pry neither into the caufes, nor the; 
 means, which fhe is pleafed to conceal from me, becaufe 
 (hey far tranfcend my comprehenfion. 1 confine my en- 
 quiries to the ends which (he kindly unfolds ; I confirm 
 myfelf in the belief, from the variety of flowers in the 
 fame fpecies, and fometimes in the fame individual, that 
 they ferve, in certain cafes, as refleftors to vegetables, for 
 the purpofe of colle6king, conformably to their pofitiofi, 
 the rays of the Sun on the parts of fecundation ; and, in 
 other cafes, asparafols, to put them under covert from ex- 
 cellive heat. 
 
 Nature deals by them, nearly, as flie does by animals 
 which are expofed to the fame variations of Latitude. In 
 Africa, fhe Jlrips the (heep of the woolly fleece, and gives 
 her fleek fmooth hair, like that of the horfe : And to the 
 North, on the contrary, flie clothes the horfe with the 
 fhaggy fur of the fheep. 1 have been an eye witnefs of 
 this double metamorphofis, at the Cape of Good Hope 
 and in RufTia. I have feen at Peterfburfr, Norman and 
 Neapolitan horfes, whofe hair, naturally ftiort, was fo 
 long and fo frizzled, in the middle of Winter, that you 
 would have believed them covered with wool like fheep. 
 It is not without reafon,' therefore, that the ancient prov- 
 erb fays : GOD tempers the -wind to the Jhorn lamb : And 
 when I behold his paternal hand varying the fur of ani- 
 mals conformably to the degree of heat and cold, I can ea- 
 fily believe, that it varies, in like manner, the mirrors of 
 ilowers conformably to the Sun. Flowers, then, may be 
 divided, with relation to the Sun, into two clafles : Into 
 reverberating flowers, and flowers in form of a parafol. 
 
 If there be any conftant charafter in plants, we muft: 
 look for it in the fruit. It is thitherward that Nature has 
 dire6led all the parts of vegetation, as to the principal 
 ©bjeft. That faying of Wisdom itfelf, by their fruits 
 ye Jhall know them, is, at leaft, as applicable to plants as 
 to the human fpecies. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 187 
 
 We fliall examine, therefore, the general characlcrs of 
 plants, with relation to the places where their feeds are ac- 
 cuftomed to grow. As the animal kingdom is divided in- 
 to three great clalTes, quadrupeds, volatiles and aquatics", 
 relatively to the three elements of the Globe ; we (hall, 
 in like manner, divide the vegetable kingdom into aerial 
 or mouHtain plants ; into aquatics, or thofe of the fhores ; 
 and into terreftrial, or thofe of the plains. But as this laft 
 participates of the two others, we (hall not dwell upon it ; 
 for, though I am perfuaded that every fpecies, nay, that 
 every variety, may be referred to fome particular fite of 
 the earth, and may grow there in its higheft degree oi 
 beauty, it is fufEcient to fay as much of it here as may be 
 necefla-ry to the profperity of a fmall garden. When we 
 fhall have traced invariable charafters, in the two extrem- 
 ties of the vegetable kingdom, it will be eafy to refer to 
 the intermediate claffes, thofe which arc adapted to them. 
 We fhall begin with the plants of the mountains. 
 
 Elementary Harmonies of plants with the Water and the 
 Air^ by Means of their Leaves and their Frjrits. 
 
 When the Author of Nature deligned to clothe with 
 vegetables even the higheft and fleepeft pinnacles of the 
 Earth, He fir ft adapted the chains of mountains to the ba- 
 fons of the feas which were to fupply them with vapours ; 
 to the courfe of the winds which were to waft them thither, 
 and to the different afpefts of the Sun by which they were 
 to be heated. As foon as thefe harmonies were eftabliih- 
 ed between the elements, the clouds afcended out of the 
 Ocean, and difperfed themfelves over the moft remote 
 parts of the Continents. There they diftilled, under a 
 tlioufand different forms, in fogs, in mifts, in dews, in 
 rains, in fnows. They defcendcd from the heights of tiie 
 
lis A VINDICATION of 
 
 Atmofphere in every paflible variety of manner ; fome in 
 a tranquil air, fuch as our Spring Ihowers, came down in 
 perpendicular drops, as if they had been flrained through 
 afieve; others, driven by the furious winds, beat horizon- 
 tally on the fides of the mountains ; others fell in torrents, 
 like thofe which, for nine months of the year, inundate 
 the Ifland of Gorgona, placed in the heart of the Torrid 
 Zone, in the burning Gulf of Panama. There were fomc 
 which accumulated themfelves, in mountains of fnow, on 
 the inacceflible fummits of the Andes, to cool, by their 
 effufions, the Continent of South America, and, by their 
 icy Atmofphere, the vaft expanfe of the Pacific Ocean. 
 In a word, mighty rivers flowed over regions where 
 the rain never defcends, and the Nile watered the plains 
 of Egypt. 
 
 Then GOD faid : " Let the Earth bring forth grafs, 
 *' the herb yielding feed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit 
 *' after his kind, whofe feed is in itfelf upon the Earth." 
 At the voice of the Allmighty, the vegetables appeared 
 with organs perfe6lly fitted to colleft the bleflings of 
 Heaven. The elm arofe on the mountains which fkirt 
 the Tanai's, clothed with leav^es in form of a tongue ; the 
 tufted box flatted from the brow of the Alps ; and the 
 prickly caper tree from the rocks of Africa, with leaves 
 hollowed into fpoons. The pines on the fandy Norwe- 
 gian hills attrafted the vapours which were floating in the 
 air, with their Aim foliage, difpofed like a Painter's pen- 
 cil ; the verbafcum difplayed its broad leaves on the parch- 
 ed fand, and the fern prefented, on the hill, its fanlike fo- 
 liage to the rainy and horizontal winds. A multitude of 
 other plants, from the bofom of the rocks, from ftrata of 
 flint, nav, even from marble incruftations, drunk in the 
 waters of Heaven by cornets, by fandals and by cruets. 
 From the cedar of Lebanon down to the violet which per- 
 fumes the grove, there was not one but what prefented its 
 large gobl-.^^ or iis tiny cup, conformably to its neceflity, 
 ©r its llation; 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 189 
 
 This adaptation of the leaves of plants, in elevated fitu- 
 ations, for receiving the defcending diftillations of the 
 rain, is varied without end j but the charafter of it is dif- 
 cernible in moft, not only in their concave forms, but like- 
 wife in a littk canal, fcoopedouton the pedicle by which 
 they are attached to their branches. It has fomething of 
 a refemblance to that which Nature has traced on the up- 
 per lip of Man, to receive the humours which defcend 
 from the brain. It is particularly perceptible on the 
 leaves of artichokes, which, being of the nature of thir- 
 ties, agree with dry and fandy fituations. Thefe have, 
 befides, collateral awnings to prevent the lofs of any of 
 the water that falls from Heaven. Plants which grow in 
 places very hot, and very parched, fometimes have their 
 ilems or their leaves transformed entirely into a canal. 
 Such are the aloes of the ifland of Zocotara, in the mouth 
 ot the Red Sea, or the prickly taper of the Torrid Zone. 
 The aqueduft of the aloes is horizontal, and that of the 
 tap§r perpendicular. 
 
 What has prevented Botanifts from remarking the re- 
 lations which the leaves of plants have with the waters 
 that feed and refrefli them, is their feeing them every 
 where nearly of the fame form, in the valleys, as on the 
 heights ; but though mountain plants prefcnt foliages of 
 every kind of configuration, you may eafily difcern, from 
 their aggregation in form of pencils, or fans, from the 
 gatherings of the leaves, or other equivalent figns, that 
 they are deftined to receive the rain water, but chiefly 
 from the aqueduft which I have juft mentioned. This 
 aqucdu^l is traced on the pedicle of the fmalleft leaves of 
 mountain plants ; by means of it, Nature has rendered the 
 forms themfelves of aquatic plants fufceptible of vegeta- 
 tion in the moft parched fituations. 
 
 The bulrufh, for example, which is only a round and 
 full ftraw, that grows by the v\^ater fide, did not appear 
 fufceptible of collefting any humidity in the air, though 
 U is very well fujted to jofty fituations, from its capilJa- 
 
90 
 
 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 ceons form, which, like that of gramineous plants prcfents 
 nothing to the wind to lay hold of. In faft, if you confid- 
 €r the different fpecies of rufh which clothe the moun- 
 tains in many parts of the world, fuch as that called ichd, 
 on the lofty mountains of Peru, the only vegetable almoft 
 that grows there, and thofe which thrive with ourfelves 
 in dry fands, or on heigiits, you would, at the firft glance, 
 believe them fimiiar to the rufh of marfhy places ; but 
 with a little attention, and not without aftonifhment, you 
 will obferve that they are hollowed into a furrow the 
 whole of their lengthwife direftion. They are, like oth- 
 er rufhes, convex on one fid*^, but they differ from them 
 cllentially, in that they are all concave on the other ; I 
 was enabled todiflinguilh, by this fame charafter, the fpar- 
 tha, which is a rufh of the mountains of Spain, and is now 
 frequently manufafturcd at Paris into cordage for their 
 draw wells. 
 
 Many leaves, even of the plants of the plains, affume, 
 on their firfl fpringing up, this form of little furrow, or 
 fpoon, as thofe of the violet, and of moft gramineous 
 plants. You may perceive, in the Spring, the young 
 tufts of thefe railing themfeives upright toward Heaven, 
 like paws, to catch the falling drops, efpecially when it 
 beo-ins to rain ; but moft plants of the plains 1-ofe their 
 gutter as they expand. It has been bellowed on them on- 
 ly during the feafon when it w^as ncceffary to their growth. 
 It is permanent only in the plants of the mountains. It 
 is traced, as has been mentioned, on the pedicle of the 
 leaves, and condu6ts the rain water into the tree, from the 
 leaf to the branch : The branch, by the obliquity of its po- 
 Jition, conveys it to the trunk, from whence it defcends 
 to the root, by a fcries of fucccffive difpofitions. If 
 you pour water gently over the leaves of a mountain 
 fhrub, which are the farti^eft from its ftem, you will per- 
 ceive it purfue the progrefs which I have jufl indicated, 
 and not a fmgle drop will be lofl on the ground. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. i^i 
 
 I have- had the curiofity to meafare, in fome niountai« 
 plants, the inclination which their branches form xvith 
 their ftem ; and I have found, in at leafl a dozen of differ- 
 ent fpecies, as in the fern, the thuia, and the like, an an- 
 gle of about thirty degrees. It is very remarkable, that 
 this degree of incidence is the fame with that which is 
 formed, in a fiat country, by the courfc of many rivulets 
 and fmaller rivers, with the great rivers into which they 
 difcharge themfeives, as may be afcertained by reference 
 to maps. This degree of incidence appears to be the raofb 
 favourable to the efflux of many fluids, which direct them- 
 feives toward one fingle line. The fame Wifdom has reg- 
 ulated the level of the branches in trees, and the courfe of 
 the ftream through the plains. 
 
 This inclination undergoes fome varieties in certain 
 mountain trees. The cedar of Lebanon, for example, 
 fends forth the lower parts of its branches, in an upward 
 direction, toward Heaven, and lowers their extremities, by 
 bending them downward to the Earth. They hav« the at- 
 titude of command which is fuited to the king o-f vegeta- 
 bles, that of an arm raifed up into the air, with the hand 
 gently inclining. By me-ans of the Srft difpoCtion, the 
 rain water is conveyed along the Hoping branch to tlie 
 tnink ; and by the fecond, the fnows, in the regions of 
 \vhich it takes delight to dwell. Aide away from off its fo- 
 liage. Its cones have, in like manner, two different atti- 
 tudes ; for it inclines them, at firfl, toward the Earth, to 
 fhelter them at the feafon of their flowering ; but when 
 they are fecundated, it eretis them toward Heaven. The 
 truth of thefe obfervations may be confirmed by referring 
 :o a yoimg and beautiful cedar m the Royal Garden, 
 which, though a flranger, has preierved, in the midft of 
 cur climate, the air of a King, and the majeflic port of 
 Lebanon. 
 
 The bark of moff mountain trees is equally adapted for 
 conducing the rain water from the branches to the roots- 
 Tkat of the pine is in Ivge perpcniicu-iar ribs ; that «f 
 
tgt A VINDICATION op 
 
 the elm is cleft and chinked longitudinally ; that of the 
 cyprefs is fpongy, like the coat of flax. 
 
 The plants of mountains, and of dry gfounds, have a 
 farther chara8:er, which is, in general, peculiar to them : 
 It is that of attrafting the water which floats in the air, 
 in imperceptible vapours. The parietaria (pellitory) which 
 has derived its name from the Latin word pariete^ (wall) 
 becaufe it grows on the fides of walls, has its leaves al- 
 mofl always in a humid ftate. This attraftion is common 
 to moft trees of the mountains. Travellers unanimoufly 
 afTure us, that there is, in the mountains of the Ifland of 
 Ferro, a tree, which furnifhes every day, to that ifland, a 
 prodigious quantity of water. The iflanders call it garoe\ 
 and the Spaniardsy^z/z/^^, from its Angular utility. They 
 tell us it is always furrounded with a cloud, which diftils 
 copioufly along its leaves, and fills with water the large 
 refervoirs which are conftruQed at the root of this tree, 
 affording an abundant fupply for the ifland. 
 
 This effeft is, perhaps, fomewhat exaggerated, though 
 related, in nearly the fame terms, by perfons of different 
 Nations : But I give full credit to the general faft. The 
 real cafe I take to be this, it is the mountain which at- 
 tracts from afar the vapours of the Atmofphere, and that 
 the tree, fltuated in the focus of attraftion, colle£ls them 
 around it. 
 
 Having frequently fpokcn, in the courfe of this Work, 
 of the attraftion of the fummits of many mountains, the 
 Reader, perhaps, will not be difpleafed, if I prefent to 
 him, in this place, an idea of that branch of the hydraulic 
 architefture of Nature. Among a great number of curi- 
 ous examples, whicli I might produce to this purpofe, 
 and which I have collefted, as an addition to my materials 
 on the fubjeft of Geography, I beg leave to prefent one, 
 which 1 haveextra8ed, not from a fyftematic Philofopher, 
 but from a fimple and unalfeQedly fprightly traveller oi 
 £he laft age, who relates things as he faw them, and with- 
 out pretending to deduce confequcnccs of any kind what- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. j^3 
 
 t?ver. It is a defcription of the fummits of the Ifland of 
 Bourbon, fituated in the Indian Ocean, extending to the 
 tvventyfirft degree of South Latitude. It is copied from 
 the writings of M. de Villers^ who was then Governor of 
 that ifland, under the Eaflindia Company. It is publifli- 
 cd in the journals of the firft voyages madfe by our French 
 Navigators into Arabia Felix, about the year 1709, and 
 given to the World by M. d^ la Roque. See that Work, 
 page 201. 
 
 " Of thofe plains,'' fays M. de Villers, which are up- 
 on the mountains (of Bourbon) *' the mofl remarkable, 
 " though no account has hitherto been given of it, is that 
 " to which they have given the name of the Plain of the 
 ** Cafres, from a tribe of that People, flaves to the inhab- 
 *' itants of the Ifland, who went thither to conceal them- 
 *' felves, after they had ran away from their matters. 
 *' From the fliore of the fea, you rife by a gentle afcent, 
 *' for {tMt.n leagues together, in order to reach this plain, 
 *' by the fingle path that leads to it, along the river of 
 Saint Stephen : It is poflible, however, to ride up on 
 horfeback. The foil is good and fmooth to about a 
 *' league and a half, on this fide the plain, planted with 
 " large and beautiful trees, the foliage of which, as it falls, 
 *' ferves for food to the tortoifes, which are to be found 
 *' there in great numbers. 
 
 " The height of this plain may be eflimated at two 
 ** leagues above the Horizon ; it accordingly appears 
 " from below to be quite lofl; in the clouds. Its circum- 
 ference may be about four or five leagues. The cold 
 is there infupportable, and a continual Jog, which wets 
 *' as ?nuck as rain, prevents your feeing objefts ten paces 
 ** diftant ; as it falls in the night, you may fee through it 
 " more clearly than by day : But then it freezes dread- 
 " fully, and in the morning, before fun rife, the plain is 
 *' frozen all over. 
 
 •' But what flrikes the eye of the beholder as very ex- 
 " traordinary, are certain elevations of ground, cut out 
 VOL. II. A a 
 
^94 A VINDICATION or 
 
 " almoft in form oF round columns, and of a prodigiou* 
 ** height ; for they cannot be much lower than the tur- 
 *' rets of Notre Dame at Paris. They are put down like 
 *• pins on the fkittle ground, and the refemblance is fo 
 ^* ftrong, that )'ou may eafily miilake on reckoning them : 
 ** They go by the name oi pi tons (pins). If you wifh ta 
 *' flop by one of thofe eminences to take reft, fuch of 
 *' your company as are not inclined to repofe, but want 
 *' to go forward, muft not withdraw fo much as two hun- 
 ** dred paces, othervvife they will be in great danger of 
 *' not finding again the point of feparation, thefe pins are 
 ** fo many in number, all fimilar in form, and fo much 
 '* arranged in the fame manner, that the Creoles, who are 
 *' native there, are themfelves liable to miftake. 
 
 '* For this reafon it is, that, in order to prevent the un- 
 " pleafant confequences of fuch an error, when a compa- 
 ** ny of travellers take ftation at one of the pins, if any 
 *' are difpofed to make a farther excurfion, they leave a 
 " perfon at the place of rendezvous, to make a fire, or 
 " raife a fmoke, which may ferve to direcf, and bring 
 *' back the ftrayers ; and if i\\tfog he Jo thick, which is 
 *' frequently the cafe, as to hinder the fire or the fmoke 
 *' from being feen, they provide themfelves with a kind 
 ** of large fiiells, one of which is left with him who keeps 
 *' ftation at the pin ; another is carried off by the feparat- 
 " ing party ; and when they wifli to return, fome one 
 ** blows violently into the ftiell, as into a trumpet, which 
 *' emits a very Ihrill found, and capable of being heard at 
 *' a (Treat diftance ; this is anTwered by tlie other, and be- 
 ** in^ repeated as often as is neceflary, they arc eafily re- 
 " covered from ftraying, and collefted at the point of de- 
 " parture. Without fuch precautions, the traveller might 
 " be bewildered. 
 
 *' In this plain are many afpin trees, and they are al- 
 '* ways green. Other trees are covered with a mofs of 
 " more than a fathom in length around their trunk and 
 " large branches. They are withered, without fohage. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 195 
 
 '* and fo impregnated with molfture, that it is impofhble 
 '* to make them take fire. If, with much difficulty, you 
 •* are able to kindle fome of the fmaller boughs, it is on- 
 '* ly a dark fire without flame, which emits a reddifii 
 '* fmoke, that defiles the meat inftead of roafting it. You 
 '* can hardly find a fpot in this plain on which to kindle 
 " a fire, unlefs by looking about for fomc fmall elevation 
 '* round the peaks ; for the foil of the plain is fo humid, 
 " that the water every where fpouts out, fo that you arc 
 '* continually in mud, and moiftened up to the calf of the 
 " leg. Great numbers of blue birds are to be feen there 
 '* neftling in the herbage, and among the aquatic ferns. 
 '* This plain was unknown before the defertion of the 
 •' Cafres. In order to get down, you muft return ty the 
 *^ fame way that you afcended, unlefs you choofe to rua 
 *' the rifk of another path, which is very rough, and dan- 
 ** geroufly fteep. 
 
 ** From the plain of the Cafres may be feen the moun- 
 *' tain known by the name of Trois Salafes, from the 
 *' three points of that rock, the loftieft in the Ifland of 
 *' Bourbon. All its rivers iffue from thence, and it is fo 
 ** fteep on every fide, that there is no pofiibility of climb- 
 " ingit. 
 
 " There is, befides, in this ifland, another plain, caUed 
 *' the Plain of Silaos, higher than that of the Cafres, and 
 " of no greater value : It is extremely difficult to get up 
 «' to it." 
 
 In the lively defcription of our Traveller, we mufi: q- 
 verlook fome errors in Phyfics, fuch as his affigning to 
 the Plain of the Cafres an elevation of two leagues above 
 the Horizon. He had not learned from the barometer 
 and thermometer, that there is no fuch elevation on the 
 face of the Globe, and that, at the perpendicular height of 
 one league only, the freezing point is invariable. But 
 from the thick fog which furrounds thofe peaks, from that 
 continual mift which wets as much as rain, and which falls 
 «iuring the night, it is evidently perceptible, that they at- 
 
196 A VINDICATION or 
 
 tra6l to them the vapours, which the Sun raifes out of the 
 Sea in the day time, and wliich difappear in the night. 
 Hence is formed that flieet of water which inundates the 
 Flain of the Cafres, and from which moft of the brooks 
 <ind rivulets that water tlie ifland take their rife. You 
 may equally diftmguifh a vegetable attraftion in thofe ev- 
 ergreen afpins, and thofe other trees, at all times humid, 
 which it is impoffible to kindle into flame. 
 
 1"he Ifland of Bourbon is almofl: round, and rifes out 
 of the Sea in the fliape of half an Orange. On the high- 
 efl; part of this hemifphere are fituated the Plains of Silaos 
 and of the Cafres, where Nature has placed thofe laby- 
 rinths of peaks continually involved in fogs, planted like 
 nine pins, and elevated like fo many turrets. 
 
 Did time and room permit, I could make it «\'ident, 
 that there are a multitude of fimilar peaks on the chains of 
 lofty mountains, of the Cordeliers, of Taurus and others, 
 and at the centre of mofl: iflands, without admitting the 
 poflibility of fuppofing, though the opinion be current, that 
 they are the remains of a primitive Earth raifed to that 
 height ; for, What mufl; have become, as has been already 
 demanded, of the wreck of that Earth, the pretended tefl:i- 
 monies of which arife on every hand o^^er the furface of 
 the Globe ? I could demonftrate that they are placed in 
 aggregations, and in fltuations adapted to the neceflities of 
 the countries of which they are, in fome fenfe, the refer- 
 voirs ; fome in a labyrinth, as thofe of the Ifland of Bour- 
 bon, when they are on the fummit of a hemifphere, from 
 whence they are deflined to diftribute the waters of Heav- 
 en in every direft ion ; others in form of a comb, when 
 they are placed on the extended creft of a chain of moun- 
 tains, as the pointed peaks of the chain of Taurus and of 
 the Cord:iliers ; others grouped into pairs, into threes, ac- 
 cording to the configuration of the territory which they 
 are to water. They are of many for^r.s, and of different 
 conftruftions : Some of them are incruftationS of earth, 
 fs thofe of the Plain of the Cafres, and of fome of the An- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 197 
 
 tilles Iflands, and which are befides fo fleep, as to be en- 
 tirely inacceffible. Thofe incruftations of earth demon- 
 ftrate, that they have, at once, foiTil and hydraulic attrac- 
 tions. 
 
 There are others which prefent long needles of folid 
 and naked rock ; others are of a conical form ; others are 
 flattened as a table, fuch as that of Table mountain, at the 
 Cape of Good Hope, where you may frequently fee the 
 clouds accumulate, and fpread like a table cloth. Some 
 are aot apparent, but entirely involved in the fide of moun- 
 tains, or in the bofom of plains. They are all diftingui (li- 
 able by the fogs which they attraft around them, and by 
 the fources which emit their ftreams in the vicinity. Nay, 
 you may reft allured, that there is no fource but in the 
 neighbourhood of fome quarry of hydro attraftive, and, 
 for the moft part, of metallic ftone. I afcribe the attrac- 
 tion of thofe peaks to the vitreous and metallic bodies of 
 which they are compofed ; And I am perfuaded it might 
 be poflible to imitate this architefture of Nature, and to 
 form, by means of the attraftion of fuch ftones, fountains 
 of water in the moft parched fituations. In general, vi<t- 
 reous bodies, and ftones fufceptible of polifh, are very 
 proper for this purpofe ; for it is obfervable, that when 
 water is diffufed in great quantities through the air, as at 
 the time of a general thaw, it is firft attrafted, and attach- 
 es itfelf, to the glafs windows and the polilhed ftones of 
 pur houfes. 
 
 I have frequently fcen on the fummit of the mountains, 
 In the Ifle of France, effefts fimilar to thofe of the peaks 
 of the Plain of the Cafres, in the Ifland of Bourbon. The 
 clouds colleft there incefTantly around their peaks, which 
 are fteep" and pointed, like pyramids. Some of thofe 
 peaks terminate in a rock of a cubical form, which crowns 
 them like a chapiter. Such is that one which they call 
 Piterbootk^ after the name of a Dutch Admiral ; it is on^ 
 pf the loftieft in the Ifland. 
 
198 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 Thofe peaks are formed of folid rock, vitrifiabic, and 
 mixed with copper : They are real ele6lrical needles, both 
 in form and fubftancc. The clouds perceptibly deviate 
 from their courfe to colleft upon them, and there accu- 
 mulate, fometimes to fuch a degree, that the pinnacles 
 become totally invifible. They thence defcend into the 
 cavity of the valleys, along the declivities of the forefts, 
 which likewife attra6l them, and there diflblve into rain, 
 frequently forming ralobows on the verdure of the trees. 
 This vegetal^le attraftion, of the forefts of that ifland, is 
 in fuch perfe6i: harmony with the metallic attraction of the 
 peaks of its mountains, that a field fituated in an open 
 place, in their vicinity, very often fuffers for want of 
 j-ain, whereas it rains almoft the whole year round in the 
 woods, which are not above a gunfliot diftant. It was by 
 the deftruclion of part of the trees that clothed the heights 
 of the ifland, that moft of the brooks which watered it 
 have been dried up : And now nothing remains of them 
 but the empty channel. 
 
 To the fame injudicious management, I afcrlbe the fen-, 
 fible diminution of a confiderable part of the rivers of 
 JEurope, both great and fmall ; as is evident from a fimple 
 infpeflion of their ancient bed, which is much broader 
 and deeper than the mafs of water at this day tranfmitted 
 by them to the Ocean. Nay, I am perfuaded, that to this 
 caufe we muft afcribc the drynefs of the more elevated 
 provinces of Afia, thofcof Perfia, in particular, the moun- 
 tains of which have, no doubt, been injudicioufly ftripped 
 of their trees, by the firft tribes who inhabited them. I 
 am decidedly of opinion, that were we to plant in France 
 mountain loving trees, on the high grounds, and at the 
 fources of our rivers, their ancient volume of water might- 
 be reftored, and many rivulets might be made to realfumc 
 their current through our plains, though they have long 
 fmce ceafed to flow. It is neither among the reeds, nor 
 in the depth of the valley, that the Naiads conceal theij: 
 r}:hauftlefs urns, as Painters reprefcnt th$m^ but at the 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 
 
 i^gr 
 
 fummit of rocks crowned wkh wood, and towering to the 
 Heavens. 
 
 There is not a fingle vegetable, the leaf of which is dif- 
 pofed to receive the rain water on the mountains, whofe 
 feed is not formed in a manner the beft adapted to raife 
 kfelf thither. The feeds of all mountain plants are vola- 
 tile. By infpefting their leaves, it is poffible to afcertain 
 the charafter of their grains, and by infpefting the grains, 
 that of their leaves, and thence to infer the elementary 
 charafter of the plant. By mountain plants, I here wilh 
 to be underftood to mean all thofe which grow in fandy 
 and parched fituations, on hillocks, in rocks, on fteep 
 ridges by the highway's fide, in walls, and, in one word, 
 at a diftance from water. 
 
 The feeds of thiftles, of blue bottles, of dandelion, of 
 fuccory, and many others, are furnifhed v/ith pinions, with 
 plumes, with tufts, and various other means of rifing, 
 which convey them to prodigious diftances. Thofe of 
 the graffes, which likewife travel very far, are provided 
 with a light chaffy coat, and with bearded hulks. Oth- 
 ers, fuch as thofe of the yellow gilliflower, are cut into 
 thitl ftales, and fly by the flighteft breath of the wind, 
 and plartt themfelves in the moft inconfiderable crevice 
 of a wall. The feeds of the largefl mountain trees are no 
 iefs volatile. That of the maple has two membranous 
 pinions, fimilar to the wings of a fly. That of the elm is 
 cafed in the midft of an oval thin leaf. Thofe of the cy- 
 prefs are almoft imperceptible. Thofe of the cedar ars 
 terminated by broad and thin plates, which, in their agore- 
 gated ftate, compofe a cone. The grains are in the cen- 
 tre of the cone ; and when arrived at maturity, the thin 
 membranes, to which they adhere, feparate from each oth- 
 er, like the cards in a pack, and each of them flies off 
 with its own little kernel. fSee the annexed Plate.) 
 
 The feeds of mountain plants, which appear too heavy 
 for flying, are furnifhed with other refources. The peafe 
 of the balfaisine have pods whofe elalticity darts themt@ a 
 
200 A VINDICATION of 
 
 confiderable diflance. There is likewife a tree in India," 
 t!ie name of which I do not now recolleft, that, in like 
 manner, difcharges its feeds with a noife like that of a 
 niuiket fired off. Thofe which have neither tufts, nor 
 pinions, nor fprings, and which, from their weight, feem 
 condemned to remain at the foot of the vegetable which 
 produced them, are, in very many cafes, thofe which 
 travel the fartheft. They fly off with the wings of a bird. 
 It is thus that a multitude of berries and (hell fruits refo\fr 
 themfelves. Their feeds are inclofed in ftony incrulla- 
 tions, not capable of being digefted. They are fwallowed 
 by the birds, which carry them ofF, and plant them in the 
 cornices of tov/ers, in the clefts of rocks, on the trunks of 
 trees, beyond rivers, nay, beyond oceans. By fuch means 
 it was that a bird of the Moluccas repeopled, with the 
 nutmeg plant, the defert iflands of that archipelago, in de- 
 fiance of all the efforts of the Dutch, who deflroy thofe 
 trees in every place where they cannot be fubfervient to 
 •their own commerce. 
 
 This is not the place for bringing forward the relations 
 which ve^retables have to animals. It is fufficient to ob- 
 ferve, as we go along, that mod birds refow the vegetable 
 which feeds them. Nay, we find, without going from 
 Iiome, quadrupeds which convey to a great diftance the 
 feeds of the grades. Such, among others, as do not chew 
 the cud, horfes for inftance, whofe dung is hurtful to the 
 meadov.'s, for an obvious reafon, they introduce into them 
 a variety of foreign herbs, as the heath and the fhort furze, 
 the feeds oi which they are unable to digeft . They refow, 
 befides, a great many others, which adhere to their hair, 
 by the motion of their tail fimply. There are quadrupeds 
 of fmail fize, fuch as the dormoufe, the Jjedgehog and the 
 marmot, which conve\:' to the moft elevated regions ot 
 the mountains, acorns, beechmafl; and chefnuts. 
 
 it is rmo-uhuly worthy of remark, that volatile feeds are 
 produced in much greater number than thofe of other fpe- 
 cies ; and in tki-s, we are called upon to admire the intcU 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 201 
 
 ligence of that Providence which forefaw every thing, and 
 arranged all accordingly. The elevated fituations for 
 which they are deflined, were expofed to be fpeedily ftrip- 
 ped of their vegetables, by the declivity of their foil, and 
 by the rains, which have a continual tendency to lower 
 them. By means of the volatility of grains, they are be- 
 come, of all the places of the Earth, the moft prolific in 
 plants. In the mountains is depofited the Botanift's trea- 
 Aire. 
 
 It cannot be too frequently repeated, The remedies 
 provided by Nature always furmount the obftacles which 
 fhe has oppofed ; and her compenfations ever exceed her 
 gifts. In truth, if you except the inconveniencies of de- 
 clivity, a mountain prefents to plants the greateft variety 
 of expofures. In a plain they have the fame Sun, the fame 
 degree of humidity, the fame foil, the fame wind ; but if 
 you afcend a mountain, fituated in our Latitude, only 
 twentyfive fathoms of perpendicular height, you change 
 your climate as much as if you had travelled twentyfive 
 leagues northward ; fo that a mountain of twelve hundred 
 fathoms perpendicular height, would prefent us with a 
 fcale of vegetation as extenfive as that of twelve hundred 
 leagues along the Horizon, which is nearly our diftance 
 from the Pole : Both the one and the other would termin- 
 ate in a region of perpetual ice. Every ftep we take up- 
 on a mountain, whether afcending or defcending, gives us 
 a change of Latitude ; and if we encompafs it round and 
 round, every ftep changes our Longitude. We fhall fall 
 in with points where the Sun rifes at eight o'clock in the 
 morning ; others, at ten o'clock ; others, at noon. We 
 fiiould find an infinite variety of expofures ; of cold to- 
 ward the North, of heat to the South, of rain to the WVft, 
 of drought to the Eaft ; without taking into the account 
 the different reflexions of heat in lands, rocks, bottoms of 
 valleys and lakes, which modify them a thoufand various 
 ways. 
 
 VOL. ir, B b 
 
iio2 A VINDICATION of 
 
 We muft proceed farther to obferve; and who (Tart d(f 
 it without profound admiration ? that the feafon of the 
 maturity of moft volatile feeds takes place toward the 
 commencement of Autumn ; and that, from an effeft of 
 the univerfal Intelligence, which eonflrains all the parts 
 of Nature to aft in concert, then it is that we have the 
 mofl violent gales of wind, about the end of September 
 or beginning of Oftober, called the equinoftial winds. 
 Thefe winds blow in all parts of the Continents, from the 
 bofom of the feas to the mountains which are in corref- 
 pondence with them. Not only do they convey thither 
 the volatile grains which have then attained to a flate of 
 maturity ; but likcwife blend with thefe thick clouds of 
 dufl, which they carry off from lands dried up by the 
 burning heats of Summer, and particularly from the fhores 
 of the Sea, where the inceffant motion of the billows^ 
 which there break, and continually tofs the pebbly ilrand 
 backward and forward, reduce the hardeft bodies to an im- 
 palpable powder. 
 
 Thofe emanations of duff are in many places fo copi- 
 ous, that I could produce a variety of inftances of veffels 
 covered with them, as they were crofiing gulfs, though 
 more than fix leagues dillant from land. They are fo 
 troublefome in the loftier provinces of Afia, that all trav- 
 ellers who have vifited Pekin affure us, it is impoflible to 
 walk the fireets of that city, for a confiderable part of the 
 vear, without having the face veiled. Thus there are rains 
 of duft which repair the fummits of the mountains, as 
 there are rains of water which feed their fources. Both 
 the one and the other iffue from the Sea, and return to it 
 by the courfe of the rivers, which are perpetually convey- 
 ino- thither, their conflant tribute of waters and fands. 
 The maritime winds unite their efforts toward the au- 
 tumnal equinox, tranfport trom the circumference of the 
 Continents, to mountains the moft remote from them, the 
 feeds and the manure which had flowed from thence, and 
 fow meadows, groves and forefts, on the fides of precipi- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 203 
 
 ces, and the moft inacccffible peaks. Thus the leaves, the 
 Hems, the feeds, the birds, the feafons, the feas and the 
 winds, concur, in a moll wonderful manner, to keep up 
 tht vegetation of the mountains. 
 
 I have been mentioning the relations of plants to moun- 
 tains ; I am mortified that it is not in my power here to 
 infert the relations which mountains themfelves have 
 with plants, according to my original intention. All that 
 I can, at prefent, fay on the fubjea is, that fo far are moun- 
 tains from being the produaions of a centrifugal force, or 
 of fire, or of earthquakes, or of water courfes, I know of, 
 at leaft, ten different fpecies, each of which has a config- 
 uration the moft perfeaiy adapted for keeping up, in ev- 
 ery particular Latitude, the harmony of the elements rel- 
 atively to vegetation. Each of them has, moreover, veg- 
 etables and quadrupeds peculiar to itfelf, and which are 
 not elfewhere to be found : This proves to a demonftra- 
 tion, that they are not the work of chance. Finally, a- 
 mong that inconceivable number of mountains which 
 cover the greateft part of the five Zones, and efpecially 
 the Torrid and the Icy Zones, ther« is but one fingle fpe- 
 cies, the leaft confiderable of all, which prelents to the 
 water courfes projeaing and retreating angles in corref- 
 pondence. This, however, is no more their work than 
 the bafon of the feas is itfelf the work of the Ocean. But 
 this interefting fubjea, of an extent too confiderable to 
 admit of its being here introduced, belongs, befides, to the 
 province of Geography. 
 
 Let us now proceed todifplay the harmonies of aquatic 
 
 plants. 
 
 Thefe have difpofitions entirely different in their 
 leaves, the bearing of their branches, and, above all, in the 
 configuration of their feeds. Nature, as has already been 
 obferved, in order to vary her harmonies, only employs, 
 in very many cafes, pofitive and negative charaaers. She 
 has beftowcd an aqueduB on the pedicle of the leaves ot 
 mountain plants ; (lie withdraws it from thofe which grow 
 
2e4 A VINDICATION or 
 
 by the fide of the waters, and transforms them into a«» 
 quatic plants. Thefe, inftead of having their leaves hot- 
 lowed out into gutters, are clothed with leaves fmooth and 
 ileek, fuch as the cornflag, which bears them in form of 
 a poignard's blade, or fwelling in the middle like a fword 
 blade, as thofe of the fpecies of reed called typha, that 
 common fort, the Item of which the Jews put into the 
 hand of Jesus Christ. Thofe of the nymphaea are 
 plane, and rounded in form of a heart. Some of thefe fpe- 
 cies afFeft other forms, but their long tails are uniformly 
 deftitute of a canal. Thofe of the bulrufh are round like 
 a pipe. There is an endlefs variety of rulhes on the brink 
 of morafTes, rivulets and fountains. You will find them 
 of all fizes, from thofe which have the finenefs of a hair, 
 up to the fpecies which grows in the river of Genoa, as 
 large as a cane. Whatever difference there may be in the 
 jointing of their ftalks and of their pannicles, they all 
 have, in their plan, a round or elliptical form. You will 
 find thofe fpecies alone which grow in parched fituations, 
 to be fluted and hollowed on their furface. When Na- 
 ture intends to render aquatic plants fufceptible of vege- 
 tation on the mountains, flie beflows aquedufts on their 
 leaves ; but when, on the contrary, fhe means to place 
 mountain plants by the water's fide, fhe withdraws it. The 
 aloes of the rock has its leaves hollowed into a fcoop ; 
 the aloes of the water has them full. I am acquainted 
 Avith a dozen fpecies of mountain fern, every one of 
 which has a fmall fluting along its branches, and the only 
 fpecies of the marflies, which 1 know, wants it. The 
 l>earing of its branches is likewife very different from that 
 of the others. The firft rears them toward Heaven, the 
 laft bears them almoft horizontally. 
 
 If the leaves of mountain plants are con{lru6led in the 
 beft manner pofTible for colle61ing, at their roots, the wa- 
 ters of Heaven, which they have not always at command ; 
 thofe of aquatic plants are frequently difpofed in fuch a 
 Tiianner, as to remove them, becaufc thcv arc dcftined ta 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. sa^ 
 
 grow in the bofom of water, or in its vicinity. The leaves 
 of trees which love the water's fide, as the birch, the af- 
 pin and the poplar, are attached to long and pendent tails.. 
 There are others which bear their leaves difpofed in form 
 of tiles, as the great chefnut of India and the walnut. 
 Thofe of plants which grow in the Ihade, around the trunk 
 of trees, and which derive, by their roots, the humidity 
 colle6led by the foliage of the tree, as the French bean 
 and the convolvulus, have a fimilar bearing. But thofe 
 which grow entirely under the fhade of trees, and which 
 have fcarcely any roots, as mufhrooms, have leaves, that, 
 fo far from pointing toward Heaven, are turned downward 
 to the earth. The grcateft part are formed on the upper 
 fide into a thick parafol, to prevent the Sun from drink- 
 ing up the moiflure of the foil in which they grow ; and 
 they are divided, on the under fide, into thin leafy plates, 
 for receiving the vapours which exhale from the ground, 
 nearly as thofe of the horizontal wheel of a fire engine 
 receives the fteam of the boiling water which makes it to 
 turn about. They have, befides, feveral other means of 
 watering themfelves by thefc exhalations. There are ma- 
 ny numerous fpecies, lined with tubes, others are iluffed 
 with fponges. There are fome whofe pedicle is hollow 
 inwardly, and w^hich, bearing a chapiter atop, there col- 
 let! the emanations of their foil, as in an alembic. Thus, 
 there is not a particle of vapour in the Univerfe that goes 
 to wafte. 
 
 What has juft now been faid of the inverted forms of 
 mufhrooms, of their leafy plates, of the tubes and fponges 
 with which they are lined, for receiving the vapours ex- 
 haled from the ground, confirms what was advanced ref- 
 pefting the ufe of the leaves of mountain plants, hollow- 
 ed into gutters, or conftru61cd into the form of a pencil, 
 or of a fan, for receiving the waters of Heaven. But a- 
 quatic plants, which had no need of fuch recipients, be- 
 caufe they thrive in water, have, if I may fo cxprefs my- 
 felf, a repulfiye foliage. I (hall here prcfent an obje61 of 
 
2o6 A VINDICATION of 
 
 comparifon, calculated to produce conviftion of the truth 
 of thofe principles : For example, the mountain box tree, 
 and the caper plant of the rocks, have their leaves hollow- 
 ed into a fpoon form, with the concavity turned toward 
 Heaven ; but the vaccinium of the marfhes, (cranberry) or 
 vaccinia palujlris, which is likewife furnifhed with con- 
 cave leaves, bears them inverted, with the cavity turned 
 toward the earth. From this negative charafter, I was 
 enabled to diftinguifh, as a plant of the marlhes, a very 
 rare plant in the Royal Garden, which I faw for the firft 
 time. It is the latum palujire, which grows in the marfhes 
 of the Labrador country. Its leaves, formed like little 
 coffee fpoons, are all inverted ; their convex fide being 
 turned toward Heaven. The water lentil of our marfhes, 
 as well as the typha of our rivers, has the middle of its 
 leaf fwelled. 
 
 Botanifls, on obferving leaves nearly fimiiar in plants, 
 on the brink of the water, and on the heights of moun- 
 tains, never entertained a fufpicion, that they could an- 
 fwer purpofes fo different. Many of them, no doubt, are 
 perfons of profound erudition ; but their learning is ren- 
 dered entirely ufelefs to them, becaufe their m.ethod con- 
 ilrains them to proceed in one fingle track, and their fyf- 
 tem indicates to them only one kind of obfervations. This 
 is the reafon that their mofl numerous colleftions, fre- 
 quently, prefent nothing but a mere vocabulary. The 
 fludy of Nature is fpirit and intelligence fimply. Her 
 vegetable order is an immenfe volume of which plants 
 form the thoughts, and the leaves of thofe very plants, the 
 letters. Nay, there is not a very great number of prim- 
 itive forms in the charafters of this alphabet : But by 
 means of their various affemblages, flie forms, as we do 
 with ours, an infinite number of different thoughts. As 
 it is with language, in order totally to alter the meaning 
 of an expreffion, all that fhe has in many cafes, to do, is 
 lo change an accent. She places ruihcs, reeds, arums with 
 a fleek foliage and a full pedicle, on the banks of rivers ; 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ao; 
 
 She traces an aqueduft in the leaf, and transforms them 
 into riifhes, reeds and arums of the mountains. 
 
 We muft, at the fame time, be carefully on our guard 
 againft generalizing thefe means ; otherwife they will 
 quickly betray us into a mifapprehenfion of her proce- 
 dure. For example, certain Botanifls, having fufpefted 
 that the leaves of fome plants might very well be adapted 
 for collefting the rain water, believed that they had a per- 
 ceptien of this ufe in that of the dipfacus, or fullers' thif- 
 tle. It was very eafy to fall into a millake here, for the 
 leaves are oppofite, and meet at their bafes; fo that after 
 it has rained, they prefent refervoirs, which contain, one 
 with another, a good half glafs of water, and which are 
 difpofed in flories along its flem. But they ought to have 
 confidered, firft, that the dipfacus grows naturally on the 
 brink of waters, and that Nature does not beftow cifterns 
 of water on aquatic plants. This would be, according to 
 the proverb, to carry water to the river. Secondly, they 
 might have obferved, that the tiers formed by the oppo- 
 fite leaves of the dipfacus^ fo far from being refervoirs, 
 are, on the contrary, difchargers, which convey off the 
 rain water from its roots, to the di fiance of nine or ten 
 inches, on every fide, by the extremities of its leaves. 
 They refemble, in fome refpefts, the gutters which pro- 
 je£l from the roofs of our houfes, or thofe which are form- 
 ed by the corners of our hats, which ferve to carry away 
 the rain water from the body, and not to throw it inward. 
 Befides, the water which remains in the cavity of the leaves 
 of the dipfacus never can get down to the root of the plant, 
 for it is detained there, as at the bottom of a vafe. It 
 would not even be proper for moiftening it, for Pliny in- 
 fills that it is brackifh. The birch wort, which grows in 
 the trembling and frothy marfhes of Canada, carries, at 
 its bafe, two leaves, formed like the halves of a trumpet 
 fawed afunder lengthwife. They are both concave, but 
 have, at the extremity that is fartheft from the plant, a 
 kind of bill, ihaped like a fpeut. The water whick re- 
 
208 A VINDICATION of 
 
 mains in die receivers of tliefe aquatic plants, is, perhaps, 
 deflined to fupply drink to the fmall birds, which fome- 
 times find themfelves not a little embarrafled how to come 
 at it, in the time of inundations. 
 
 It is neceflary careful 1)^ to make a diftinftion between 
 the elementary, and the relative, charafters of plants. 
 Nature obliges the man who ftudies her, not to hold to 
 external appearances, and, in order to form his underftaftd- 
 ing, (lie makes him rife from the means which fhe em- 
 ploys, to the ends which fhe propofes. If certain aquatic 
 plants feem to prefent, m their foliage, fome of the char- 
 afters of mountaineers, there are upon the mountains, 
 fome which feem to prefent chara6lers fimilar to thofe of 
 the waters ; fuch, for example, is the broom. It bears 
 leaves fo fmall, and fo few in number, that they appear 
 infufficient for collecling the water necefTary to its growth, 
 and fo much the more, that it thrives in foils the moft 
 parched. Nature has indemnified it in another manner. 
 If its leaves are fmall, its roots are very long. They go 
 in quell of coolnefs to a great diftance. I have feen fome 
 of them extrafted from the earth, which were more than 
 twenty feet in length, and it was neceffary, after all, to 
 break them off, it being impoffible to reach the extremi- 
 ties. This prevents not the fcanty leaves from exhibiting 
 the mountain charafter; for they are concave, they point 
 toward Heaven, and are lengthened out, like the under 
 bill of a bird. 
 
 The greateft part of aquatic vegetables throw the water 
 off from them, fome by their port ; fuch as the birch, the 
 branches of which, fo far from rearing themfelves toward 
 Heaven, fall downward, in form of an arch. The fame 
 thing may be afhrmcd of the great chefnut and of the 
 walnut, unlefs thefe trees fhould have changed their nat- 
 ural attitude, by growing in thirlly fituations. Their bark 
 is ufually fleck, as that of the birch, or fcaly, like that ol 
 tlie chefnut ; but not hollowed into canals, as that of the 
 elm, or the mountain pine. Others have in themfelves a 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 209 
 
 jrepuifive quality : Such are the leaves of the nymphaea, 
 aiid of feveral fpecies of colewort, on which the drops of 
 water colle6l into globules, like the particles of quickfil- 
 ver. Nay, there are fome which it is extremely difficult to 
 moillen, fuch as the ftems of many fpecies of capillary 
 plants. The laurel, we are told, carries its repulfive qual- 
 ity to fuch a degree, as to repel the thunder. If this qual- 
 iliy, fo highly extolled by the Ancients, is really pofTefled 
 by the laurel, we muft, undoubtedly, afcribe this to its 
 nature as a fluviatic plant. The laurel grows in abun^ 
 dance on the banks of the rivers of Theflaly. A traveller, 
 whofe name is the Sieur de la Guilletiere^'^ fays, in a rela- 
 tion written in a very lively and agreeable manner, that 
 he never faw any where fuch fine laurels as along the fide 
 of the river Peneus. Hence, perhaps, was fuggeffed the 
 idea of the metamorphofis oi Daphne, thedauahter of that 
 river deity, transformed by Apollo into a laurel. 
 
 This repulfive property of certain trees, and of fome a- 
 quatic plants, induces me to think that they might be em- 
 ployed around pur habitations, as a fecurity againft thun- 
 der florms, and that in a manner more certain, and much 
 more agreeable, than eleftrical conduftors, which diffipate, 
 only by attrafting them to the neighbourhood. They 
 might farther be very advantageoufly employed for drying- 
 marfliy grounds ; as the attraftive qualities of many moun"^ 
 tain vegetables, might be ufed in forming fountains upon 
 heights, by collefting there the vapours which float in the 
 air. There is not, perhaps, an infeftious morafs on the 
 Globe, except in places where men have injudicioufly 
 deftroyed the plants whofe roots abforbed the humidity of 
 the Earth, and whofe foliage repelled that of the Heav- 
 ens. 
 
 I pretend not to affirm, however, that the foliage of a- 
 quatic plants has no farther ufes : For where is the man 
 who has entered into the endlefs views of Nature ? "To 
 
 * Seethe Voyage to Lacedemon, by the Sieur it la Guillctiere. 
 VOL. II. C C 
 
210 A VINDICATION of 
 
 *' whom hath the root of wifdom been revealed ? or, Whc^ 
 *^ hath known her wife counfels ?" Radix Japientia cut 
 rexjelata eft ? et aftutias illius qiiis agnovit ?* In general, 
 the leaves of aquatic plants appear, from their extreme 
 mobility, very much adapted to the purpofe of renewing 
 the air of humid places, and of producing, by their move- 
 ments, that drying of the ground to which I have juft al- 
 luded. Such are thofe of reeds, of poplars, of afpins, of 
 birches, and even of willows, which afe fometimes in mo- 
 tion, though there is not the flighteft degree of wind per- 
 ceptible. 
 
 It is farther remarkable, that moft of thefe vegetables 
 emit a very pleafing fmell ; among others, the poplar and 
 the birch, efpecially in the Spring ; and that a great num- 
 ber of aromatic plants thrive by the water's fide, as mint, 
 fweet marjoram, ciperus, the fweet fmelling rulh, the iris, 
 the calamus aromatic us : And, in the Indies, the fpicc 
 plants, fuch as the cinnamon tree, the nutmeg and the 
 clove. Their perfumes muft contribute very powerfully 
 to diminifli the mephitic exhalations, which are natural 
 to marfhy and humid places. They have, like wife, many 
 ufes relatively to animals, fuch as affording a fhade to the 
 fifhes which refort thither, in queft of a Ihelter from the 
 fcorching heat of the Sun. 
 
 But one conclufion we may certainly deduce, in favour 
 of our improvements in culture, from the obfervations 
 now made ; namely this, that in the cultivation of plants, 
 the pedicle of whofe leaves prefents no imprefs of a ca- 
 nal, it is nccclfary to water them copioufly ; for, in this 
 cafe, they are naturally aquatic. The nafturtium, the 
 mint, and the fweet marjoram, confume a prodigious quan- 
 tity. But when plants are provided with a canal, they 
 muft be watered more fparingly, for this demonftrates 
 them to be originally natives of the mountains. The 
 dcjcper this canal is, the lefs artificial watering do they re- 
 
 * Ecclefiallicus. chap. i. ver. 6, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. &ti 
 
 ^uirc. Every gardener knows, that if you frequently wa- 
 ter the aloes, or the taper of Peru, you will kill them. 
 
 The feeds of aquatic plants have forms not lefs adapted, 
 than thofe of their leaves, to the places where tHey are 
 deftined to grow ; they are all conftru6led in a manner 
 the moll proper for failing off. Some of them are fafli- 
 ioned into the figure of (hells, others into boats, rafts, 
 fkiffs, fingle and double canoes, fimilar to thofe of the 
 South Seas. I can have no doubt, that, by an attentive 
 ffudy of this part alone, a great number of very curious 
 difcoveries might be made, refpefting the art of crofTmg 
 currents of every fort ; and 1 am perfuaded that the firll 
 men, who were much better obfervers than we are, copi- 
 ed their different methods of travelling, by water, after 
 thofe models of Nature, of which we, with all our preten- 
 fions todifcovery, are but feeble imitators. 
 
 The aquatic, or maritime pine, has its kernels inclofed 
 in a kind of little bony fhoes, notched on the under fide, 
 and covered over, on the upper, with a piece refembling 
 a fiiip's hatch. The walnut, which delights fo much in 
 the banks of rivers, has its fruit contained in two little 
 boats, whofe apertures are perfeftly fitted to each other. 
 The hafel, which becomes fo bufhy on the brink of rivu- 
 lets ; the olive, which is enamoured of the fea fhore to 
 fuch a degree, that it degenerates in proportion as you re- 
 move it thence, carry their feed inclofed in a fpecies of 
 little cafks, capable of holding out the longeft voyages. 
 The red berry of the yew, whofe favourite refidenceis the 
 cold and humid mountain, by the fide of a lake, is hol- 
 lowed into a little bell. This berry, on dropping from 
 the tree, is at firft carried down, by its fall, to the bottom 
 of the water; but it returns inftantly to the furface, by 
 means ©fa hole, which Nature has contrived, in form of 
 a navel, above the feed. In this aperture is lodged a bub- 
 ble of air, which brings it back to the furface of the wa- 
 ter, by a mechanifm more ingenious than that pf the d'lv^ 
 
CIS A VINDICATION of 
 
 cr's bell, in this, that the vacuum of the diving bell is uni 
 dermoft, and in the berry of the yew it is uppermoft. 
 
 The forms of the feeds of aquatic plants are ftill more 
 curious; for, univerfally, Nature redoubles her ikill and 
 exertions in favour of the little and the weak. That of 
 the bulrufh refembles a lobfter's eggs ; that of ferinel 
 is a real canoe in miniature, hollowed in the middle, with 
 both ends raifed into a prow. There are others grooved 
 into each other refembling pieces of wood difpofed for a 
 float, and worm eaten ; fuch are thofe of the horned pop- 
 py. Thofe which are deftined to thrive on the brink of 
 waters deftitute of current, are wafted by fails ; fuch is 
 the feed of a fcabious plant of our own country, which 
 grows on the border of morafles. Befides, the difference 
 of this from the other fpecies of fcabious, whofe feeds are 
 crowned with pronged hairs, in order to faften themfetves 
 on the hairs of the animals which tranfplant them, the 
 one, laft mentioned, is overtopped by a half bladder open, 
 and refting on its fummit like a gondola. This half blad- 
 der ferves it, at once, as a fail by water, and as a vehicle by 
 land. Thefe means of natation, though endlefsly varied, 
 are common, in all climates, to the grains of aquatic 
 plants. 
 
 The almond of the river of the Amazons, known by the 
 name of totoca, is inclofed in two fhells, exactly fimilar to 
 thofe of an oyfter. Another fruit on the flrand of the fame 
 river, which abounds in almond trees, has a perfeft refem- 
 blance in colour and form, to an earthen pot, with its little 
 lid ;* it goes by the name of the monkey's porridge pot. 
 Others iare formed into large bottles, as the.fruit of the great 
 <Tourd. There are feeds incrufted in a coat of wax, 
 which makes them float, fuch are the berries of the wax 
 tree, or royal pimenta of the fhores of Louifiana. The 
 formidable apple of the mancenilla, which grows on the 
 
 * See engravingi of mofl of thofe feeds, in John dt Lad's. Hiftory of the. 
 V.Vlindics. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 213 
 
 fta ffior6 of the iflands fituated between the Tropics, and 
 the fruit of the manglier, which grows there a61ually in 
 the fait water, are almoft ligneous. There are others 
 with fhells fimilar to the fea urchin, without prickles. 
 Many are coupled, and perform their voyage like the 
 double canoe, or balfe, of the South Sea. Such is the 
 double cocoa of the Sechelies Iflands. 
 
 If you examine the leaves, the ftems, the attitudes 
 and the feeds of aquatic plants, you will always remark 
 in them charafters relative to the places where they are 
 deftined to grow, and in harmony with each other ; fo 
 that, if the feed has a nautical form, its leaves are depriv- 
 ed of an aqueduft ; juft as in mountain plants, if the 
 grain is volatile, the pedicle of the leaf, or the leaf alto- 
 gether, prefents a channel. 
 
 I fhali alTume, as an inftance of the nautical harmonies 
 of plants, the nafturtium, with which every one is ac- 
 quainted. This plant which bears flowers fo agreeable, 
 is one of the crefTcs of the rivulets of Peru. It muft be 
 obferved, firft, that the foot ftalks of its leaves have no 
 conduit, like thofe of all aquatic plants ; they are inferted 
 in the middle of the leaf, which they fupport like aii 
 umbrella, to ward off from them the water which falls 
 from Heaven, Its feed, when frefh, has exaftly the form 
 of a boat. The upper part is raifed into a flope, like a 
 bridge to let the water run off; and you diftinguifli per- 
 ieQly, in the lower part, a poop and a prow, a "keel and a 
 bottom. fSee the annexed Plate. J The little furrows of 
 the feed of the nafturtium are charafters comm.on to moft 
 nautical grains, as -well as the triangular forms, and thofc 
 of the kidney or keel. Thofe furrows, undoubtedly, pre^ 
 vent them from rolling about in all diredions, conftrain 
 them to float along lengthwife, and give them the direc- 
 tion the beft adapted to the track of the water, and to 
 the paffage of the narrowell ftraits. But they li^ve a 
 chara61er ftill more general ; it is ibis, that they fwim in 
 t^^ir ftate of maturity, which is not the czfc v'ith "rains 
 
£14 A VINDICATION of 
 
 deftined to grow In the plains, fuch as peafe aud lentils, 
 which fink to the bottom. 
 
 Some fpccies of thefe, neverthelefs, fuch as the French 
 bean, fink, at firft, to the bottom, and rife to the furface 
 when penetrated with the water. Others, on the contra- 
 ry, float at firft, and fink afterward. Such is the I^gyp- 
 tian bean, or the feed of the colochafia, which grows in 
 the waters of the Nile. In order to fow it, you are un- 
 der the necefTity of rolling it up in a ball of earth ; and in 
 that flate it is thrown into the water. Without this pre- 
 caution, not one would remain on the fhorcs where you 
 would wifh it to grow. The Ratability of aquatic feeds 
 is, undoubtedly, proportioned to the length of the voyages 
 which they have to perform, and to the different gravity 
 of the waters in which they are deftined to fwim. There 
 are fome which float in fea water, and fink in frefh, which 
 is lighter than fea water by one thirty fecond part : Such 
 precifion is in the balancing of Nature! I believe that the 
 fruit of the great India chefnut, which thrives on the 
 (bores of the fait creeks of Virginia arc in this fituation. 
 In a word, I am fo entirely convinced of all the relations 
 which Nature has eftablifhed among her Works, as to 
 conclude, that the time when the feeds of aquatic plants 
 drop, is regulated, in moft cafes, by that of the overflow- 
 ing of the rivers where they grow^ 
 
 It is a fpcculation well worthy of the attention of the 
 philofophic mind, to trace thofc vegetable fleets failing 
 along, night and day, with the current of the rivulets, and 
 arriving, undircfled by any pilot, on unknown regions. 
 There are fome which, by the overflowing of the waters, 
 now and then lofe thcmfelves in the plains. I have feen 
 them, fometimcs accumulated upon each other, in the bed 
 €f torrents, prelenting around the pebbles where they had 
 germinated, waves of verdure of the moft beautiful fea 
 green. You would have thought that Flora, purfued by 
 fome River god, had dropped her bafkct in the urn of that 
 Deity. Others more fortunate, ifluing from the fourccs.oi 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ht^ 
 
 fome ftream, are caught by the current of the greater riv- 
 ers, and conveyed away to embellifli their diftant banks 
 with a verdure not their own. 
 
 There are fome which crofs the vaft Ocean ; and, after 
 a long navigation, are driven, by the very tempcfts, on 
 the regions which they adorn and enrich. Such arc the 
 double cocoas of the SechcUes, or Mahe Iflands, which 
 the Sea carries regularly every year a diftance of four 
 hundred leagues, and lands them on the coaft o^ Malabar. 
 The Indians, who inhabit it, were long under the perfua- 
 fion, that thofe annual prefcnts of the Ocean muff have 
 been the produce of a palm tree that grew under its bil- 
 lows. They gave them the name of marine cocoa nuts ; 
 and afcribed wonderful virtues to them. They let as 
 high a value upon them as upon ambergris; and to fucli 
 a pitch was this extravagance carried, that many of thofe 
 fruits have been fold as high as a thoufand crowns a piece. 
 jBut the French having, fome years ago, difcovered the 
 I (land of Mahe, which produces them, and which is fitu- 
 ated in the fiftieth degree of South Latitude, imported 
 them in fuch quantities to India, that they funk at once 
 in value and in reputation ; for men, in every country, 
 prize thofe things only which are rare and myllerious. 
 
 In every ifland where the eye of the traveller has been 
 able to contemplate the primordial difpofitions of Nature, 
 he has found their fhores covered with vegetables, all the 
 fruits of which poflcfs nautical charafters. James Car- 
 tier and Champlain reprefent the flrands of the lakes of 
 North America as (haded by ftately walnut trees. Horner^ 
 who has fo attentively ftudied Nature, at times, and in 
 places, where fhe flill retained her virgin beauty, has 
 planted the wild olive along the fhores of the ifland on 
 which lJl)Jfts^ floating upon a raft, is thrown by the tem- 
 pefl. The navigators who have made the firff difcoveries 
 iw the feas of the Eafl Indies, frequently found in them 
 (hallows planted with cocoa trees. 1 he Sea throws fuch 
 quantities of fennel feed on the fhores of Madeira, that 
 
2i6 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 one of its bays has obtained the name of Funchal, or Fen- 
 nel Bay. 
 
 It was by the courfe of thofe nautical feeds, too care- 
 lefsly obferved by modern Seamen, that the Savages for- 
 merly difcovered the iflandsto windward of the countries 
 Vhich they inhabited. They formed conje8ures refpeft- 
 ing a tree at a great diftance, on feeing its fruit caft upon 
 their fhores. By fimilar indications, Chrijiopker Colunu 
 bus acquired the affurance, that another world ex i fled. 
 But the regular winds and currents from the Eaft, in the 
 South Sea, had carried them long before to the Nations 
 of Afia ; of which I fh all fay fomething toward the end 
 of this Study. 
 
 There are, befides, vegetables of an amphibious nature, 
 i'l^bey are difpofed in fuch a manner, that one part of their 
 foliage raifes itfelf toward Heaven, and the other forms an 
 arcade, and bends downward to the ground. Nature has 
 given to their feeds, likewife, the power of at once flying 
 ^uid fwimraing. Such is the willow, the feed of which 
 \% enveloped in a cobweb down, which the winds tranf- 
 port to a great diftance, and which floats ajjc^ng the fur- 
 face of the water, without v/etting itfelf, like the downy 
 feathers of the duck. This down is compofed of fmall 
 capfules, like the bottom of a lamp, and with two beaks, 
 filled with feeds, which are crowned with a plume : So 
 that the wind conveys thofe capfules through the air, and 
 likewife tranfports them, by failing, along the face of the 
 water. This configuration was admirably adapted, to be 
 the vehicles of the feeds of plants which grow by the fide 
 of ftagnant waters and lakes. The fame thing holds as 
 to the feeds of the poplar ; but thofe of the alder, which 
 grows on the banks of rivers, have no plumage, becaufe 
 the current of the ftream is defigned to convey them from 
 place to place. 
 
 The feeds of the fir, and of the birch, liave, at once, 
 volatile and nautical charafters ; for the fir has its kernel 
 attached to a membranous wing ; and the birch has its 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 21; 
 
 grain embraced by two wings, which give it the appear- 
 ance of a little fhell. Thefe trees grow, at once, on the 
 wintry mountains, and on the margin of the lakes of the 
 North ; their feeds had occafion not only to fail over 
 iiagnant waters, but to be tranfported through the air over 
 the fnows, in the midfl of which they take delight. I 
 have no doubt that there may be fpecies of thefe trees^ 
 the feeds of which are altogether nautical. Thofe of the 
 linden tree are carried in a fpherical body, fimilar to a lit- 
 tle bullet. This bullet is affixed to a long tail, from the 
 extremity of which defcends obliquely a follicle of con- 
 fiderable length, whereby the wind carries it away to a 
 great dillance, fpinning it round and round. When it 
 drops into the water, it plunges about the length of an 
 inch in it, and ferves, in fome fort, as ballaft to its tail» 
 and to the little leaf attached to it, which thus, being 
 brought to a vertical fituation, performs the funftions of 
 a maft and a fail. But the examination of fo many curi- 
 ous varieties would carry me too far. 
 
 This would be the proper place to fpeak of the roots of 
 vegetables ; but 1 am little acquainted with what pafTes 
 under ground. Befides, in all Latitudes, on heights, as 
 well as by the water's fide, we find the fame fublfances 
 nearly, muds, fands, pure mould, rock, which muft pro- 
 duce a much greater refemblance in the roots of plants 
 than in the other parts of their vegetation. I have no 
 doubt, however, that Nature has eflablifhed, on this fub- 
 jeft, relations, the knowledge of which would be hiahlv 
 ufeful, and that a cultivator, fomewhat experienced, mii^ht 
 be able, by infpeQing the root of a vegetable, to deter- 
 mine the fpecies of foil beft adapted to it. Thofe which 
 are very hairy feem mod proper for fandy grounds. The 
 cocoa tree, which grows to a very large fize on the fhores 
 of the Torrid Zone, thrives in pure fand, which it inter- 
 laces with fuch a prodigious quantity of hairy fibres, as 
 to form a folid mafs around it. It is on this bafis that it 
 cfFeftually refifls the mofl violent tempefls, in the midfl 
 
 VOL. II. n d 
 
&iS A VINDICATION OP 
 
 of a moving foil. What is fingularly remarkable m the' 
 cafe of this plant, it never fucceeds fo well as in the fand 
 on the fea fhore, and generally languifiics in the interior 
 of a country. 
 
 The Maldivia Iflands, which are, for the moft part, 
 nothing but fandy fhallows, are the moft renowned regions 
 of all Afia, for the abundance and the beauty of their co- 
 coa trees. There are other vegetables of the fhores, the 
 roots of which are drawn out like cords. This configura- 
 tion renders them exceedingly proper for binding together 
 the ground, and thereby defending it againft the inroads 
 of the watery element. Such are, among ourfelves, the 
 alder, the reed, but, above all, a fpecies of dogs' grafs, 
 which I have feen very carefully cultivated in Holland a- 
 long the dikes. 
 
 Bulbous plants appear, in like manner, to take pleafure 
 in foft muds, into which they cannot penetrate very far, 
 from the roundnefs of their bulbs. But the elm extends 
 its roots at pleafure on the declivity of the mountain; and 
 the oak inferts his fturdy pivots into it, to lay hold of the 
 fucceflive ffrata of which it is compofed. Other plants 
 preferve, on the high grounds, by their creeping foliage 
 and their fuperficial roots, the emanations of duft which 
 (he winds there depofit. Such is the anemone nemorofa. 
 If you find a finglc loot of it on a hill, in a wood not 
 greatly frequented, you may reft afTured, that it difFufes 
 itfelf like a net work through the whole extent of that 
 wood. 
 
 There are trees, the trunks and the roots of which are 
 admirably contrafted with obftacles which appear to us 
 accidental, but which provident Nature forefaw. For ex- 
 ample, the cyprefs of Louifiana grows with its foot in the 
 water, chiefly on the banks of the MechafTipi, whofe vafl 
 ihores it magnificently fhades. It rifes there to a height 
 which furpaffes that of almoft any of the trees of Europe.* 
 
 * See Father Ckarlsvoix'% Ilidory of New Fiance, vol, iv. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ai^ 
 
 Nature has given to the trunk of this ftately tree, a en- 
 cumference of more than thirty feet, in order to enahle it 
 to refift the ices from the lakes of the North, which dif- 
 charge themfelves into that river, and the prodigious rafts 
 of timber which float down its flream, and which have ob- 
 ftruaed moft of its mouths to fuch a degree, as to inter- 
 rupt the navigation to veffels of any confiderable burthen. 
 And, to put it beyond a doubt, that fhe defigncd the thick- 
 nefs of its trunk for withftanding the fliock of floating bod- 
 ies, it is remarkable, that, at the height of fix feet, ilie fud- 
 denly diminiflies the fize of it at leafl a third, the full 
 magnitude having become fuperfluous at that degree of el- 
 evation : And for the purpofe of fecuring it in another 
 manner, ftill more advantageous, fhe raifes out ot the root 
 of the tree at four or five feet dillance all around, feveral 
 large ftumps from one foot to four feet high. Thefe are 
 not fhoots ; for their head is Imooth, and bears neither 
 leaves nor branches : They are real ice breakers. 
 
 The tupelo, another great tree of Carolina, which grows 
 likewife by the water's fide, but in creeks, has nearly the 
 fame dimenfions at its bafe, excepting the ice breakers, or 
 pallifades. The feeds of thofe trees are fluted, as I have 
 already obferved to be the cafe with aquatic feeds in gen- 
 eral ; and that of the cyprefs of Louifiana differs confider- 
 ably, by its nautical form, from that of the cyprefs of the 
 mountains of Europe, which is volatile. Thefe obferva- 
 tions are fo much the more worthy of credit, that Father 
 Charlevoix^ who, in part, relates them, deduces no confc- 
 quence whatever from the fafts, though he was abundant- 
 ly capable of interpreting their ufe. 
 
 It muft now be apparent of what importance it is to con- 
 neft the lludy ot plants with that of the other Works of 
 Nature. It is polTible to afcertain, by their flowers, the 
 expofure to the Sun which is beft adapted to them -. By 
 their leaves, the quantity of water that is necefTary to 
 them ; by their roots, the foil which is moft fuitable; and 
 by their fruits, the fituations in which they ouijht to he 
 
£so A VINDICATION of 
 
 placed, together with new relations to the animals whick 
 feed upon them. By fruit I mean, as Botanifts likewife 
 do, feed of every fpecies. 
 
 The fruit is the principal charafter of the plant. Of 
 this we may form a judgment, firft, from the care which 
 Nature has beftowed on its formation and prefer vation. It 
 is the ultimate term of her produftions. If you examine, 
 in a vegetable, the different envelopes which inclofe its 
 leaves, its flowers, and its fruits, you will perceive a mod 
 wonderful progreffion of pains and precautions. The 
 fimple leaf buds areeafily diftinguifiiable from the fimplic- 
 ity of their cafes. Nay, there are plants which have none 
 at all, as the fhoots of the gramineous, which ftart imme-. 
 diately out of the earth, and ftand in no need of any for- 
 eign proteftion. But the buds which contain flowers are 
 provided with flieaths, or lined with down, as thofe of the 
 apple tree ; or cafed over with glue externally, as thofe of 
 the great India cheflnut ; or are inclofed in bags, as the 
 flowers of the narcifl'us ; or fecured in fume way or an- 
 other, fo as to be very diftinguiftiable, even before their 
 expanfion. 
 
 You afterwards perceive, that the care employed in 
 dreiTmg out the flower, was entirely defl;ined to the fe- 
 cundation of the fruit ; and that when this is once form- 
 ed. Nature redoubles her precautions, both externally and. 
 internally, for its prefervation. She gives it a placenta, 
 Ihe envelops it in pellicles, in fliells, in pulps, in pods, in 
 capfules, in huflcs, in flvins, and fometimes in a cafe, of 
 thorns. A mother cannot pay more attention to the cra- 
 dle of her infant. In proccfs of time, in order that her 
 grown child may be enabled to go abroad, and look for a 
 fettlement in the world, (lie crowns it with a tuft of plu- 
 mage, or inclofes it in a fhell : Furnifhes it with wings to 
 fly away through the air, or with a bark to fail off along 
 the face of the water. 
 
 There is fomething flill more marked, to arrcff our ob- 
 fervation, in favour of the fruit. It is this, that Nature 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 221 
 
 frequently varies the leaves, the flowers, the Hems, and 
 the roots of a plant ; but the fruit remains conftantly the 
 fame, if not as to its form, at lead as to its eiTential fub- 
 ftance. I am perfuaded that, when fhe was pleafed to 
 create a fruit, it was her intention that it (hould have the 
 power of reproducing itfelf on the mountains, in the 
 plains, amidft rocks, in fands, on the brink of waters, and 
 under different Latitudes ; and, in order to adapt it to its 
 fituation, flie varied the watering pot, the mirror, the prop, 
 the attitude, the buttrefs, and the fur of the vegetable, 
 correfpondingly to the Sun, to the rains, to the winds and 
 to the foil. To this intention, I believe, we ought to af- 
 cribe the prodigious variety of fpecies in every genus, 
 and the degree of beauty which each attains, when in the 
 fituationthatis natural to it. Thus, in forming the cheft- 
 nut to reach perfeftion on the llony mountains of the 
 South of Europe, and to fupply the want of corn, which 
 fcarcely fucceeds there, ilie placed it on a tree which in 
 thofe regions attains magnificence from its adaptations. 
 
 I have eaten of the fruit of the cheftnut tree of the If- 
 land of Corfica. It is as large as fmall hens' eggs, and 
 makes excellent food. You may read, in a modern trav- 
 eller, the defcription of a cheftnut tree, which grcv/ in Si- 
 cily, on one of the ridges of Mount ^tna. Its foliacre is 
 of fuch extent, that a hundred cavaliers could repofe with 
 eafe under its fhade. For that reafon it obtained the name 
 of centum cavallo. Father Kircher alTures us, tliat he had 
 feen, on the fame mountain, in a place called Treca/lap-ne, 
 three cheftnut trees of fuch a prodigious fize, that when 
 they were felled, you might have lodged a large flock of 
 fhcep under covert of their bark. The fliepherds empiov- 
 ed them for this purpofe, in the night time, and in bad 
 weather, inftead of penning up their charge in the fold. 
 Nature has granted, to this ftatcly vegetable, the faciiltv 
 of colletiing, on the ftcep mountains, the waters of the 
 Atmofphere, by means of leaves formed like fo many 
 ^pngues j and of penetrating, by means of its^ fiurdy roots. 
 
!222 
 
 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 down to the very bed of fountains in defpite of lavas and 
 rocks. 
 
 Nature has been pleafed, elfewhere, to produce the fruit 
 of this tree with a degree of bitternefs, for the ufe of fome 
 animal no doubt, on the brink of the fait water creeks, 
 smd arms of the Sea, in Virginia. She has bellowed on 
 the tree which bears it, leaves difpofed in form of a tile, 
 a fcaly bark, flowers different from thofe of the European 
 cheftnut tree, but adapted, unqueftionably, to the humid 
 exhalations, and to the afpefts of the Sun to which it is 
 expofed. In a word, ftie has transformed it into the great 
 India cheftnut. It arrives at much greater beauty in its 
 native country, than in Europe. That of America is the 
 maritime cheflnut tree ; and that of Europe is the cheftnut 
 tree of the mountains. She has placed, perhaps by a dif- 
 ferent kind of combination, this fruit, on the beech tree 
 of our hills, the maft of which is evidently a fpecies of 
 cheftnut. 
 
 Finally, by means of one of thofe maternal attentions 
 which have induced her to fufpend, even on herbs, the 
 produ6iions of trees, and to ferve up the fame diflies on 
 the fmalleft tables, fhe has placed before us the fame fruit 
 in the grain of the black corn, which, in its colour, and 
 its triangular form, refembles the feed of the beech, called 
 in hztin Jhgus, wlience this fpecies of corn has obtained 
 the nam^e oifagopyrwii. One thing, at any rate, is cer- 
 tain, namely, that independent of the mealy fubftance, we 
 find, in the black corn, in the beechmaft, and in the cheft- 
 nut, fimilar properties, fuch as that of cooling exceflive 
 heat of urine* 
 
 It was, in like manner, the intention of Nature to pro- 
 duce the acorn, in a great variety of expofures. Fliny 
 enumerated, in his time, thirteen different fpecies in Eu- 
 rope, one of them, wliich makes very excellent food, is 
 that of tlie green oak. It is of this that the Poets fpcak, 
 
 ^ Sec C/wfljc/'s Treaiireon Corornon Plants. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^23 
 
 when they celebrate the felicity of the Golden Age, be- 
 caufe its fruit then ferved as an aliment to Man. It is 
 worthy of being remarked, that there is not a fingle genus 
 of vegetable, but what gives in fome one of its fpecies, a 
 fubftance capable of being converted into nourilhment for 
 mankind. The acorn of the green oak is, among the fruits 
 of this genus of trees, the portion referved for our ufe. 
 Nature has been pleafed, after making this provifion for 
 Man, to fcatter the other fpecies of the oak over the dif-« 
 ferent foils of America, to fupply the neceffities of her 
 other creatures. She has preferved the fruit, and has va- 
 ried the other parts of the vegetable. She has placed the 
 acorn, but with the leaves of the willow, on the plant, 
 which has, for that reafon, got the name of the willow 
 leafed oak, and which thrives in that country by the wa- 
 ter's fide.* She has placed it, together with fmall and 
 pendent leaves affixed to pliant tails, like thofe of the af- 
 pin, on the water oak, which grows there in the marfhes. 
 But when flie intended to plant them in dry and parched 
 foils, fhe united to them leaves of ten inches in breadth, 
 adapted to the reception of rain water, fuch are thofe of 
 the fpecies known by the name of the black oak in that 
 country. 
 
 It may be neceffary farther to obferve, that the place 
 where any fpecies of plant produces the fineft fruit, deter- 
 mines its principal genus. Accordingly, though the oak 
 has its fpecies fcattered about every where, it mufl be con- 
 fidered as of the genus of mountain trees ; becaufe that 
 which grows on the mountains of America, and there dif- 
 tinguifhed by the name of the cheftnut leafed oak, yields 
 the largeft acorns, and is one of the greateil trees in that 
 part of the world ; whereas the water oak, and the willow 
 leafed oak, rife to no great height, and produce very fmal! 
 acorns. 
 
 * See the figures of It in Father Charlevoix's Hlfiory of New France, 
 vol. iv. 
 
 I 
 
fe£4 A VIxXDICATION of 
 
 The fruit as wc have feen, is the invariable charafler 
 of the plant. To it, accordingly, Nature has likewife at- 
 tached the principal relations of the animal kingdom to 
 the vegetable kingdom. It was her intention that an ani- 
 mal of the mountains fhould find the fruit, on v/hich he 
 has been accu domed to live, in the plains, on the fand, 
 am.ong the rocks, when he is under the neceility of chang- 
 ing his country, and efpecially on the brink of rivers, 
 when he defcends thither to quench his thirfl. I am not 
 acquainted with a fmgle mountain plant but what has fome 
 of its fpecies, with their correfponding varieties, fcatter- 
 ed over all fituations, but principally on the margin of 
 waters. 
 
 The mountain pine has its kernels mounted on wings, 
 and the aquatic pine has its feed inclofed in a fkiff. The 
 feeds of the thiflle, which grows on a parched foil, are 
 furniflied with plumes, to convey them from place to 
 place : Thofe of the fullers' thillle, which thrives by the 
 v/ater's fide, have none, becaufe they had no occafion for 
 any to affift them in fwimming. Their flowers vary for 
 fimilar reafons ; and though Botanifts have made two dif- 
 ferent genera of them, the goldfinch fails not to acknowl- 
 edge this lafl; as a real thillle. He refts himfelf upon it, 
 when he finds it convenient to go and cool himfelf on 
 fome watery bank. He forgets, on beholding his favour- 
 ite plant, the fandy downs where he was born, and cheers 
 the banks of the rivulet, with the mufic of his fong, and 
 the beauty of his plumage. 
 
 It appears to me impofiible to acquire any thing like a 
 knowledge of plants, unlefs by fludying their geography, 
 and their ephemeris. Without this double illumination, 
 which mutually rcflc61s, their forms will be forever ftrange 
 to us. The greatefl part of Botanifts, however, pay no 
 manner of regard to this. In making their colleftions, 
 they remark not the feafon at which plants grow, nor the 
 place where, nor the afpeft to which they are expofed. 
 They carefully attend to ail their intrinfic parts, and cf- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 8*5 
 
 pccially to their flowers ; and after this mechanical exam- 
 ination, depofit them in their herbary, and imagine they 
 have a thorough knowledge of them, efpecially if they 
 have had the good fortune to dignify them, by impofing 
 fome Greek name. They refemble a certain hulfar, ol 
 whom 1 have heard, who, having happened to find a Latin 
 infcription in brazen charafters, on an antique monument, 
 difengaged them one after another, and tumbled them to- 
 gether into a baiket, which he difpatched to an Antiquari- 
 an of his friends, with arequeft that he would inform him 
 what they meant. They no more lead us to an acquaint- 
 ance with Nature, than a Grammarian would give us a 
 relifli for the genius of Sophocles, by prcfenting us with a 
 naked catalogue of his tragedies, of the divifion of their 
 a6ls and fcenes, and of the number of verfes which com- 
 pofe them. With equal abfurdity are they chargeable who 
 colleft plants, without marking their relations to each 
 other, and to the elements ; ihey fcrupuloufly preferve 
 the letter, but fupprefs the fenfe of it. Far different was 
 the manner in which a Tournefort, a Vaillant, a Linnaus, 
 profecuted the ftudy of Botany. If thefe learned men 
 have not deduced any confequence from thofe relations, 
 they have^ at leaft, prepared the proje6ling ftones of ex- 
 peftation, which promife the conflru6lion of a future fab- 
 ric of fcience. 
 
 Though the obfervations which 1 have juft made, ref- 
 pefting tlie elementary harmonies of plants, are but few in 
 number, I have the confidence to af&rm, that they are or 
 very high importance to the progrefs of agriculture. The 
 point in queftion is not to determine geometrically the 
 genera of flowers, whofe mirrors are the beft adapted for 
 refletfing the rays of the Sun in every point of Latitude ; 
 the glory of calculating their curves is referved for future 
 Newtons. Nature has outrun our moft ardent wiflies, iu 
 thofe places where fhe has been left at liberty to rceftab- 
 lifh her own plans. We have it in our power to fccure 
 profperitv to ours, in a manner the moli beneficial, byre- 
 
 voi. II, j: e 
 
226 A VINDICATION of 
 
 ducing them into harmony with hers. In order to afcertai« 
 what plants are beft adapted to fucceed in fuch and fuch a 
 diftrift, you have only to pay attention to the wild plants 
 which thrive there fpontaneoufly, and which are diftin- 
 guifhable for their vigor and for their multitude : Then 
 fubftitute in their place domeftic plants, which have the 
 fame kind of flowers and leaves. Wherever umbelliferous 
 plants grow, you may put in their room fuch of our cu- 
 iinary vegetables as have moft analogy with them, from 
 their leaves, their flowers, their roots and their grains, fuch 
 as the daucus genus : The artichoke will there ufefuUy re- 
 place the gaudy thiftle ; the domeftic plum tree ingrafted 
 on a wild ftock of the fame plant, in the very place where 
 this laft fpontaneoufly fprung up, will become extremely 
 vigorous. I am perfuaded that by thefe natural approxi- 
 mations, advantage might be derived from the moft bar- 
 ren fands and rocks ; for there is not a Angle genus of 
 wild plants but what contains a fpecies fit for food. 
 
 But it was not fuflicient for Nature to have eftabliflied 
 fo many harmonies between plants, and the fituations in 
 which they were deftined to vegetate, had ftie not like- 
 wife provided means for reftoring them, when deftroyed 
 by the intolerant culture of Man. Let a piece of ground 
 be left uncultivated, for ever fo fliort a fpace of time, and 
 you will prefently fee it clothed with vegetables. They 
 grow there in fuch numbers, and fo vigoroufly, that there 
 is no huflDandman capable of producing an equal quantity, 
 on the fame fpot, let him take what pains he will. Thefe 
 ihoots, however, {^o vigorous and fo rapid, which fre- 
 quently take pofl'eflion of our dock yards of free ftone, ot 
 our walls of afhlar, and of our courts paved with granite, 
 are, in many cafes, only a provifional culture. Nature, 
 Avho is always advancing from harmony to harmony, till 
 Ihe has attained that point of perfcftion which flic pro^ 
 pofed to herfelf, fows, at fir ft, with grafl^es and herbage of 
 different fpecies, all abandoned foils, waiting for an op • 
 *)ortunity of exerting her powers, to raife on that very 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 227 
 
 fppt vegetables of a higher order. On the rude negkaed 
 diftrias, where barren downs alone meet our eyes, poller- 
 ity may behold ftately forefts arife. 
 
 We (hall throw, as our cuflom is, a fuperficial glance 
 on the very ingenious methods which Nature employs for 
 preparing and conducing thofe vegetable progrefTions, 
 We fhall hence attain a glimpfe, at lead, not only of the 
 elementary relations of plants, but of thofe which exift 
 between their different claffes, and which extend even to 
 the animal kingdom. Vegetables, which are the moft con- 
 temptible in the eyes of Man, are frequently the moft nec- 
 cffary in the order of Creation. 
 
 The principal means employed by Nature for fecuring 
 
 the growth of plants of every fpecies, are the thorny 
 
 plants. It is very remarkable, that plants of this defcrip- 
 
 tion are the firft which appear on lands in fallow, or in 
 
 forefts which have been cut down. They are, in truth, 
 
 wonderfully well adapted to promote foreign vegetations, 
 
 becaufe their leaves with deep incifions, like thofe of the 
 
 thiftle and echium, or their fprigs bent into an arch, as 
 
 thofe of the bramble, or their horizontal and interlaced 
 
 branches, like thofe of the black thorn, or their boughs 
 
 briftled with briars and unprovided with leaves, as thofe 
 
 of the fea rufti, leave underneath and around them many 
 
 intervals through which other vegetables may arife, and 
 
 find proteftion from the tooth of moft quadrupeds. Nur- 
 
 feries of trees arb frequently to be found in their bofom. 
 
 Nothing is more common in coppice woods than to fee a 
 
 young oak ftart out of a tuft of brambles, which enamels 
 
 the earth all around, with its ciufters of prickly flowers ; 
 
 or a young pine arife out of a yellow brake of marine 
 
 rufhes. 
 
 When thefe trees have once acquired a certain degree 
 of growth and fize, they ftifle, by their ftiade, thofe thorny 
 plants, which fubfift no longer, except along the flurts of 
 the woods, where they enjoy air fufficient for their vege- 
 tation. But in this fituation, fuch plants are ftill going 
 
tzS A VrNDICATION of 
 
 on to extend the empire of their fuperiors, from year tb' 
 year, over the plains. Thus, the thorny plants are the o- 
 ria;inal cradles of the forefts; and the fcourge of the agri- 
 culture of Man, is the buhvark of that of Nature. 
 
 Man has, however, imitated, in this refpc6l, the procefTes 
 of Nature ; for it he wiihes to prote6l the newly fown 
 feeds of his garden, he finds it frequently neceflary W cover 
 them with prickly branches of one fort or another. It 
 appears to me probable, that there is not a heath but what, 
 in time, migJit become a foreft, were their commoners re- 
 flrained from driving their flocks thither to pafture, for 
 the cattle crop the te.nder (hoots of the trees as faft as they 
 fpring up. This, in my opinion, is the reafon why the 
 declivities of the lofty mountains of Spain, of Perfia and 
 of many other parts of the World, are not clothed with 
 trees : It is becaufn? of the numerous flocks of fheep which 
 are driven thither, in Summer, and which roam over their 
 different chains. I am fully convijiced that thofe moun- 
 tains were covered, in the earlier ages of the World, with 
 foreffs which were laid low by their firfl inhabitants ; and 
 that they would refumc their ancient clothing, though now 
 naked and defert, were the cattle to paflure on them no 
 longer. It is very remarkable, that thofe elevated regions 
 are fowed over with prickly plants, juft as our heaths gen- 
 erally are. 
 
 Don Garcias de F^gueroa, AmbafTador from Spain at 
 the Court of CA*^ Abas, King of Perfia, relates, in the ac- 
 count which he has given of his journey, that the lofty 
 mountains of Perfia, which he croffed, and where the Tur- 
 comans are continually ftraying, as they tend their fleecy 
 charge, were covered with a fpecies of thorny flirub, 
 which grew luxuriantly in the mofl parched fituations. 
 This fame flirubbery ferved as a retreat to a great number 
 of partridges. 
 
 From this circumflance we take occafion to obferve, 
 that Nature employs the birds, particularly, to fow the 
 Uwrnv plants in places the fl:eepcft and moll inacceffible. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 2ig 
 
 They are accuftomed to retire thither in the night, and 
 there depofit. with their dung, the ftony feeds of the bram- 
 ble berry, of the berry of the eglantine, of the barberry 
 and of moll thorny flirubs, which, from relations no lefs 
 wonderful, are indigeftible in their ftomach. 
 
 Birds have, befideS, particular harmonies with thofe veg- 
 etables, as we fhall make appear in its proper place. Noc 
 only do they find on them a plentiful fupply of food, and 
 ihelter under them, but downs for lining their nefts, as on 
 thiltles, and on the cotton tree of America; fo that if ma- 
 ny of them refort tor fafety to the elevation of towering 
 trees, others find it in the thorny brake. There is not a 
 Cngle bulli but what has its peculiar bird. 
 
 Independently of the plants proper to each fituation, 
 and which are there domefticated, there are fome in a ftate 
 of incelTant peregrination, and flit round the earth, with- 
 out fettling in any fixed abode. We can eafily have a 
 conception of the caufe of this conftant removal, by fup- 
 pofing, what is aftually the truth, that feveral of fuch 
 plants fhed their feeds only at the feafon when certain reg- 
 ular winds blow, or at certain revolutions of the currents 
 of the Ocean. Whatever may be in this, I am of opinion 
 that we mufl rank, under this defcription, many plants 
 which were known to the Ancients, but are not now to 
 be found. Such, among others, is the celebrated laztr^ 
 pitium of the Romans, the juice of which, called lazer, 
 fold for its weight in filver. This plant, according to 
 Pliny^ grew in the vicinity of the city of Corenum, in 
 Africa ; but had become fuch a rarity in his time as hard- 
 ly any where to-be feen. He tells us that a fingle plant 
 of it had been found, under the reign of Nero^ and that 
 it was fent to this Prince as a great curiofity. 
 
 Modern Botanifls pretend, that the lazerpitium is the 
 fame plant with xh^ filphium of our gardens. But they 
 are evidently in an error, from the defcriptions which the 
 Ancients, and, among others, Pliny and Diojcondes have 
 left us of it. F©r my own part, I have n© doubt that the 
 
fiQO 
 
 A VlNDICATIOx\ or 
 
 Jazcrpitium is of the number of the vegetables which arc^ 
 cleflined to flit along the Earth, from Eaft to Weft, and 
 from Weft to Eaft. It is, perhaps, at prefent, on the weft- 
 ern fliores ot Africa, whither the eafterly winds may have 
 conveyed its feeds ; perhaps, likewife, by the revolutions 
 of the wefterly winds, it may have returned to the place 
 where it was in the days of Augujius ; or it may have been 
 conveyed into the plains oi Ethiopia, among Nations 
 totally unacquainted with its pretended wonderful qual- 
 ities. 
 
 Pliny enumerates a great many other vegetables, which 
 are, at this day, to us equally unknown. It may merit 
 obfervcition, that thofe vegetable apparitions have been 
 contemporary witli feveral fpecies of flitting birds, which 
 have likewife difappeared. It is well known that there 
 are feveral clalTes of birds, and of fifties, which do noth- 
 ing but migrate inceffantly over the Earth and through 
 the Seas ; fome, in a certain revolution of days ; other*} 
 at the end of a certain period of years. Many plants may- 
 be fubjected to a ftmilar deftiny. This Law extends even 
 to the Heavens, in which fome new ftar is, from time to 
 time, making its appearance. Nature, as I think, has dif- 
 pofcd her Works in fuch a manner, as to have always 
 fome novelty in refervc, in order to keep Man continual- 
 ly in cxcrcife. She has eftablifhed, in the duration ot the 
 exiftence of the different beings of each kingdom, con- 
 certs of a moment, of an hour, of a day, of a moon, of a. 
 vear, of the life of a man, of the duration of a cedar, and, 
 perhaps, of that of a globe : But this, undoubtedly, is 
 known to the Supreme Being alone. 
 
 I am perfuaded, at the fame time, that the greatcft part 
 of fliitiiiiT pk^nts muft have a principal centre, fuch as a 
 ftccp rock, or an ifland in the midft of the Sea, from 
 whence they diftufe thcmfelves over all the reft of the 
 Tvorld. This leads me to deduce, what I confider as an 
 irrerrajTiihle argument in fupport of the recent Creation 
 of our Globe ; it is this, were the Globe of very remote 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 231 
 
 antiquity, all the pofTible combinations of the propagation 
 of plants by feed, would have been already completed all 
 over the World. Thus, for example, there would not 
 be an uninhabited ifland and fhore of the Seas ol India, 
 which you would not find planted with cocoa trees, and 
 fown with cocoa nuts, which the Ocean wafts thither ev- 
 ery year, and which it fcatters alternately on their ftrands, 
 by means of the variety of Jts ^nonfoons and ol its cur- 
 rents. Now, it is unqueftionably certain, that the radia- 
 tions of that tree and its fruit, the principal focufles of 
 which are in the Maldivia Iflands, are not hitherto diffuf- 
 ed over all the iflands of the Indian Ocean. 
 
 The Philofopher Francis Leguat, and his unfortunate 
 companions, who were, in the year 1690, the firft inhab- 
 itants of the fmall Ifland of Rodriguez, which lies a hun- 
 dred leagues to the eaftward of the Ifle of France, found 
 no cocoa trees in it. But, precifely at the period of their 
 ftiort refldence there, the Sea threw upon the coafl fev- 
 eral cocoa nuts in a Hate of germination ; as if it had been 
 the intention of Providence to induce them, by this ufeful 
 and feafonable prefent, to remain on that ifland, and to 
 cultivate it. 
 
 Francis Leguat, who was unacquainted with the rela- 
 tions which feeds have to the element in which they are de- 
 figned to grow, was very much aftonifhed to find that 
 thofe fruits, which weighed from, five to fix pounds, ir-uft 
 have performed a voyage ot fixty or lourfcore leagues, with- 
 out being corrupted. He took it for granted, and he was 
 in the right, that they came from the Ifland of St. Brande, 
 which is fituated to the North Eaft of Rodriguez. I'hofG 
 two defert iflands had not, as yet, from the Creation of 
 the World, communicated to each other all their vegeta- 
 bles, though fituated in a current of the Ocean v.'hich fets 
 in alternately, in the courfe of one year, for fix months 
 toward the one, and fix months toward the otiier. 
 
 However this m,ay be, the}' p lamed tliofe cocoa nuts, 
 which, in the fpace of a vear and a half, fent out flioou 
 
232 A VINDICATION of 
 
 ol" tour feet in height. A blefling from Heaven, fo dif. 
 tinftly marked, had not the power of detaining them in 
 that happy ifland. An inconfiderate defire of procuring 
 for themfclves women con drained them to abandon it, 
 notwithftanding the remonilrances of Legiiat^ and plunged 
 them into a long feries of calamities, which few of them 
 were able to furvive. For my own part, 1 can entertain 
 no doubt, that had they repofed that confidence in Provi- 
 dence which they had reafon to do, its care would have 
 conveyed wives tor them into that defert Ifland, as it had 
 fent to them the gift of the cocoa nut. 
 
 To return to the fubj eft of vegetable navigation; all 
 the combinations and the verfatilitics of their fowings, 
 would have been long ago completed in iflands lying be- 
 tween the fame parallels, and in the fame monfoons, if 
 the World had been eternaL The double cocoa nuts, the 
 nurferies of which are in the Sechelles Iflands, would 
 have diffufed themfelves, and would have had time to 
 germinate on the Malabar coaft, on which the Sea is from 
 time to time throwing them. The Indians would have 
 planted upon their fliores thofe fruits to which they af- 
 cribed virtues fo miraculous, while the palm tree, which 
 bears them, was fo entirely unknown but twelve years ago 
 to the people of this coaft, that they believed them to be 
 natives of the bottom of the Sea, and thence gave them the 
 appellation of marine cocoa nuts. There ai^e, in like man- 
 ner, a multitude of other fruits between the Tropics, of 
 which the primordial ftocks are in the Moluccas, in the 
 Phillippines, in the iflands of the South Sea, and which 
 are entirely unknown on the coafts of both Continents, 
 and even in the adjacent iflands, which, undoubtedly, 
 would have become there the objc£ls of cultivation to 
 their inhabitants, had the Sea been allowed fufficieiit time 
 to multiply the projeftlon oF them on their fliores. 
 
 1 fliall purfue this reflection no farther ; but it evident- 
 ly dcmonftrates thenewnefs of the World. V/ere it eter- 
 nal, and exempted from the care of a Providence, its veg- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 
 
 '33 
 
 stables would long fince have undergone all the p©flible 
 combinations of the chance which refows them. We 
 fhould find their different fpecies in every fituation where 
 it was poflible for them to grow. From this obfervation 
 I deduce another confequence, namely this, That the Au- 
 thor of Nature evidently intended to link Mankind to- 
 gether, by a reciprocal communication of benefits, the 
 chain of which is, as yet, very far from being completed. 
 Where is, for example, the benefaftor of Humanity, who 
 fliall tranfport to the Oftiacs and the Samoiedes ot Wai- 
 gat's Strait, Winter's tree from the Straits of Magellan, 
 the bark of which unites the favour of cloves, of pepper 
 and of cinnamon ? And, Who is the man that fhall convey 
 to Magellan's Strait the peafe tree of Siberia, to feed the 
 ftarving Patagonian ? 
 
 What a rich colleftion might Ruffia make, not only of 
 the trees which thrive in the northern and the fouthern 
 regions of America, but of thofe which, in all parts of 
 the World, crown the lofty, ice covered mountains, whofe 
 elevated ridges have a temperature approaching to that of 
 her plains ? Wherefore behoFds fhe not her forefts enrich- 
 ed with the pines of Virginia, and with the cedars of 
 Mount Lebanon ? The defert (hores of the Irtis might ev- 
 ery year clothe themfelves with the fame fpecies of oats 
 wherewith fo marly Nations, inhabiting the banks of the 
 rivers 'of Canada are principally fupported. Not only 
 might (he colleft in her plains the trees and the plants of 
 cold Latitudes, but a great number of annual vegetables, 
 which grow during the courfe of a Summer, in warm and 
 temperate Latitudes. I know, by experience, that the 
 Summer's heat is as powerful at Peter fburg as under the 
 Line. 
 
 There are, befides, parts of the ground, in the North, 
 which have configurations perfeftly adapted to afford a 
 fhelter againfl the northerly winds, and to multiply the 
 warmth of the Sun. If the South has its icy mountains, 
 ^he North has its reverbatory valleys, I have feeja one 
 VOL. II. r f 
 
234 A VINDICATION oif 
 
 of thofe fmall valleys, near Peterfburg, at the bottom of 
 which flows a brook that never freezes, even in the midft 
 of Winter. The rocks of granite, wherewith Finland is 
 roughened all over, and which, according to the report of 
 Travellers, cover moft of the lands of Sweden, of the 
 fhores of the Frozen Ocean, and all Spitzbergen, are fuf- 
 ficient for producing the fame temperatures, in many pla- 
 tes, and for diminifhing in them, to a confiderable degree, 
 the feverity of the cold. 
 
 I have feen, in Finland, near Wiburg, beyond the fix- 
 ty firft degree of Latitude, cherry trees entirely expofed 
 to the weather, though thefe trees are natives of the forty 
 fecond degree ; that is, of the kingdom of Pontus, from 
 whence Lucidlus tranfplanted them to Rome, after the 
 defeat of Mithri dates. The peafantry of that Province 
 cultivate tobacco with fuccefs, which is a much more 
 foutherly plant, being originally a native of Brafil. It is, 
 I admit, an annual plant, and that it does not acquire, in 
 its northern fituation, a very high degree of perfume; for 
 they are under the ncceflity of expofing it to the heat of 
 their ftoves, in order to bring it to a ftate of perfeft matu- 
 tity. But the rocks, with which Finland is covered over, 
 would undoubtedly prefent, to attentive eyes, reverberat- 
 ing fituations, which might bring it to a fufhcient degree 
 of maturity, without the aid of artificial heat. 
 
 I myfclf found, not far from the city of Frederlckfham,. 
 !ipon a dunghill, under the fhelter of a rock, a very lofty 
 tuft of oats, the produce of a fingle feed, confi fling of 
 fhirtyfeven flalks, loaded with as many ears completely- 
 ripe, without reckoning a multitude of other fmall fuck- 
 lers. I gathered it with an intention of having it pre- 
 fented to her Imperial majefly, Catharine II, by my Gen- 
 eral M. Duhofquet^ under whofe orders, and in whofe 
 company I Was then vifiting the fortified places of that 
 province: It -was likcwife his intention ; but our Ruflian 
 attendants, carelefs, as all flaves arc, fuffcrcd it to be loft> 
 He was exceedingly vexed at this, as well as I : I cannot 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCK. 235 
 
 help thinking, that a flieaf of corn fo rich and beautiful, 
 the produce of a province, confidered, ev^en at Peterfburg, 
 as fmitten with fterility, becaufe of the rocks which cov- 
 er its furface, and procured for it, from ancient Geog- 
 raphers, the epithet of iapidoja, (ftony) would have been 
 as acceptable to her Majefty, as the huge block of granite 
 which (he has fince had conveyed from thence, to be form- 
 ed, at Peterfburg, into the bafis of a ftatue of F^Ur the 
 Great. 
 
 I have feen in Poland, feveral private individuals cul- 
 tivate the vine and the apricot tree with very great fuc- 
 cefs, Mr. de la Roche, Conful from the prince oi Mol- 
 davia, carried me, when at Warfaw, to a little garden, in 
 the fuburbs of that City, which produced to the occupier 
 an annual revenue of one hundred piftoles, though it did 
 not contain quite thirty of the laft mentioned tree. It 
 was totally unknown in that country a hundred and fifty 
 years ago. The apricot was firft introduced into it by 
 a Frenchman, valet de chambre to a Queen of Poland. 
 This man raifed the fruit fecretly, and made prefents of 
 It to the Grandees of the Country, pretending that he had 
 received it from France, by the couriers of the Court. 
 The great people did not fail to pay him magnificently for 
 his prefents ; and this fpecies of commerce became to 
 him the foundation of an ample fortune, by means of 
 which his great grand children are at this day the moft 
 opulent Bankers ot that Country. 
 
 What I have faid refpefting the pofTibility of enrich- 
 ing Ruffia and Poland with ufeful vegetables, is not only 
 in the view of acknowledging, the beft way in my power, 
 the gracious reception with which I was honoured by per- 
 fons of rank, and by the Government of thofe Countries 
 when I was a ftranger among them ; but becaufe thefc 
 indications tend equally to the improvement of France, 
 the Climate of which is more temperate. We have icy 
 mountains, capable of producing all the vegetables of the 
 JiJorth ; and reverberating valleys equally adapted tp x\^ 
 
236 A VINDICATION or 
 
 produ61ion of moft of thofe of the South. It would not 
 be proper, as our cuftom is, to make an effort to render 
 this fpecies of cuhure general through a whole diflri£t, 
 but to fet it a going in fome little fheltered expofure, or. 
 fmall winding valley. The influence of thefe pofitions is 
 of no great extent. Thus, the famous Conftantia vine 
 of the Cape of Good Hope fucceeds perfeftly only on a 
 fmall fpot of ground, fituated at the bottom of a little 
 hill, whereas the adjoining and furrounding vineyards da 
 not produce the mufcadine grape of any thing like the 
 fame quality. Of this, too, I have my own perfonal ex~ 
 perience. 
 
 In France, it would be proper to look for fheltered af- 
 pefts, fuch as we have been defcribing, in places where 
 there are white Hones in abundance, the colour of which 
 is the befl adapted to reverberate the rays of the Sun, 
 Nay, I believe, that marl is indebted to its white colour, 
 for part of the heat which it communicates to the lands 
 on which it is fpread ; for it reflefts upon them the rays 
 of the Sun with fo much aftivity, as to burn up the firfl 
 fhoots of many herbs. This is the reafon, if I am not 
 miftaken, why marl, which has, in other refpefts, the 
 the principles of fecundation within itfelf, kills a great 
 many of the fmaller herbs, which are accuftomed to grow 
 under the fhade of the corn, and whofe firff leaves are 
 more tender than thofe of corn, which is, in general, the 
 moft hardy of gramineous plants. 
 
 It would be farther neceffary to look for thofe fortu- 
 nate cxpofures in the vicinity of the Sea, and under the 
 influence of its winds, which are fo neceffary to the vege- 
 tation of many plants, that feveral of them refufe to grow 
 in the inland parts of a country. Such is, among others, 
 the olive tree, which it has been found impoffible to prop- 
 agate in the interior of Afia and of America, though the 
 Latitude be, in other refpefts, favourable. Nay, I have 
 remarked, that it is not fruitful in iflands, and on fhores 
 >vhere it is excluded from the fca breezes. To this caufc 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 237 
 
 I afcribe the fterility of thofe which have been planted 
 in the Ifle of France, on its weftern fhore ; for it is fhel^ 
 tered from the Eaft winds by a chain of mountains. As 
 to the cocoa tree, it will not thrive, between the Tropics, 
 imlefs it has, if I may venture to fay fo, its root in the 
 fea water. It is, I firmly believe, for want of thofe ge- 
 ographical confiderations, and fome others of a fimilar 
 nature, that many plans of improvement in cultivation 
 have failed in France, and in her Colonies. 
 
 However that may be, it might be poffible to find, 
 within the kingdom, an icy mountain, with, perhaps, a 
 reverberating valley below. It would be a moft agreea- 
 ble employment to go in fearch of fuch a fituation, and 
 the greateft benefits might be derived from it. We might 
 convert it into a Royal Garden, which fliould prefent to 
 our Sovereign a fpeftacle of the vegetation of a multitude 
 of climates, upon one line, of lefs than fifteen hundred 
 fathoms of elevation. There he might bid defiance to 
 the burning heat of the dog ftar, under the fhade of ce- 
 dars, on the moffy bank of a rivulet iffuing from the 
 fnow ; and, perhaps, efcape the feverity of Winter's cold, 
 at the bottom of a valley with a fouthern afpeft, under 
 the palm tree, and amidfl a field of fugar canes. Wc 
 might there naturalize the animals which are the comDat- 
 fiots of thofe vegetables. He might hear the brayin? of 
 the rein deer of Lapland, from the fame valley in which 
 he would fee the peacocks of Java building their nefls. 
 This landfcape would coUeft around him a part of the 
 tributes of the' Creation, and exhibit to him an imanre of 
 the terreflrial paradife, which was fituated, as I fuppofo, 
 in a fimilar pofition. In ferious truth, 1 cannot lielp ex- 
 prefTing a wifh, that our Kings would extend their fiib- 
 lime enjoyments, as far as the fludy of Nature has purfu- 
 ed its refcarches under their flouriOiing Empire-. 
 
 . * ^eJuamev5hominum.JatiforXlfquefuturoc\ Ah, blind to futurity ! Little 
 4id good Saint Pierre think, t^.at the ill fated Prince, for vvh-o.m he took fo 
 
^38 A VINDICATION of 
 
 It now remains, that I examine the harmonies whick 
 plants form with each other. Thefe harmonies confli- 
 tute the inexprefhble charms laviflied on the fites which 
 Nature has fowed and planted with her own hand ; and 
 they are to be the fubjcft of the enfuing feftion. 
 
 VEGETABLE HARMONIES OF PLANTS. 
 
 We aie going to apply to plants the general principles 
 laid down in the preceding Study, by examining, one af- 
 ter another, the harmonies of their colours, and of thek 
 forms. 
 
 The verdure of plants, which is fo grateful to the eye, 
 is a harmony of two colours oppofite in their elementary 
 generation, of yellow, which is the colour of the Earth, 
 and of blue, which is the colour of the Heavens. Had 
 Naiure d)'ed plants yellow, they would have been con- 
 founded vvdth the ground ; if blue, they would have been 
 confounded with the Heavens and the Waters. In the 
 fir ft cafe, all would have appeared earth ; in the fecond, 
 all would have appeared fea : But their verdure gives 
 them contrafts the moft delightful with the grounds <^ 
 this magnificent pifture, and confonances equally agreea- 
 ble with the yellow colour of the earth, and with the az- 
 ure of the Heavens. 
 
 The green colour pofTefTes this farther advantage, that 
 it accords in a moft wonderful manner with all the oth- 
 ers, which arifcs from its being the harmony of the two 
 
 much delight to plant and decorate this earthly Paradifc, was, in the courfe 
 of a few fleeting years, to be dethroned, imprifoned, condemned, and pub- 
 licly fxccijiccl, in the Metropolis of his own Kingdom ; and the very name 
 of King profcribcd by a Nation once enthufiaftically attached to Royalty. 
 How wonderful arc the Works of Nature ! Kow myfterious the Ways of 
 I'rovidcncc I H. H. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 13^ 
 
 extreme colours. Painters, who are endowed with tafte, 
 hang the walls of their exhibition rooms with green, in 
 order that the piaures, of whatever colours they may be, 
 may detach themfelves from that ground without harflinefs, 
 and harmonize upon it without confufion.* 
 
 Nature, not fatisfied with thi« firft general tint, has em- 
 ployed, in extending it over the ground of her fcene, what 
 Painters call tranfitions. She has appropriated a partic- 
 ular fhade of bluifh green, which we call fea green, to 
 plants which grow in the vicinity of water, and of the 
 Heavens. This is the fhade which, in general, tinges 
 the plants of the fliores, as reeds, willows, poplars ; and 
 thofe of high grounds, as the thiftle, the cyprefs, and the 
 pine ; and which makes the azure of the rivers to har- 
 monize with the verdure of the meadows, and the azure 
 of the Heavens with the verdure of the heights. Thus, 
 by means of this light and fugitive tint, Nature diffufes 
 delicious harmonies over the limits of the waters, and a- 
 long the profiles of landfcapes ; and it is produaive of a 
 ftill farther magic to the eye, in that it gives greater ap- 
 parent depth to the valleys, and more elevation to the 
 mountains. 
 
 Something more wonderful flill challenges our atten- 
 tion, namely this, that though fhe employs but one fmgic 
 colour in arraying fo many plants, fhe extraas out of it a 
 quantity of tints fo prodigious, that each of thofe plants 
 has its own, peculiar to itfelf, and which detaches it fuf- 
 ficiently from its neighbour to be diftinguifhable from it ; 
 and each of thefe tints is varying, from day to day, from 
 the commencement of Spring, when mofl of them exhibit 
 
 * Undoubtedly, when they put on a green ground, pidlures of plants, 
 or landfcapes, iuch piftures detach themfelves from it but indifferently. 
 There is, in my opinion, a tint better adapted to be the ground of a pic- 
 ture gallery ; namely, gray. This tint, fortecd of black and white, which 
 are the extremes of the chain of colours, harmonizes with every other, with- 
 out exception. Nature frequently employs it in the Heavens, and oo the 
 Horizon, by means of vapours and ®f clouds, which are generally of that 
 colour. 
 
^^Q A VINDICATION oF 
 
 themfclves In a bloody verdure up to the lafl days of AuJ 
 tumn, when they are transformed into various yellows. 
 
 Nature, after having thus harmonized the ground of 
 her pifture, by means of a general colour, has detached 
 from it every vegetable in particular, by means of con- 
 trafts. Such as are defigned to grow immediately on the 
 ^rround, on flrands, or on dufky rocks, are entirely green, 
 leaves and flems, as the greateft part of reeds, of graffes, 
 of mofles, of tapers and of aloes ; but thofe which are 
 deftined to arife out of the midft of herbage, have ftems 
 of different tints wf brown ; fuch are the trunks of mod 
 trees, and the ftalks of fhrubs. The alder, for example, 
 which thrives amidft the graffy turf, has ftems of an alh- 
 coloured gray ; but the wallwort, which entirely refem- 
 blcs it in all other refpefts, and which grows immediately 
 on the ground, is green all over. The mugwort, which 
 grows along hedges, has reddifh ftems, by which it is ea- 
 fiiy diftinguiftiable from the neighbouring fhrubs. Nay„ 
 there are, in every genus of plants, certain fpecies which, 
 by their (hining colours, feem to have been formed for 
 terminating the limits of their clafTes. Such is, in the 
 forb genus, a fpecies called the Canadian fervice tree, the 
 tranches of which are of a coral red. There are, in the 
 willow tribe, ofiers whofe felons are as yellow as gold ; 
 but there is not a hngle plant which does not detach it- 
 felf entirely from the ground which furrounds it by its 
 flowers and by its fruits. 
 
 It is impoffible to fuppofe that fo many varieties ffiould 
 be mechanical refults of the colour next to which bodies 
 are placed ; for example, that the blulfti green of moft 
 mountain vegetables fhould be an effeft of the azure of 
 the Heavens. It is worthy of being remarked, that the 
 blue colour is not to be found, at leaft as far as I know, 
 in the flowers or in the fruits of lofty trees ; for in this cafe, 
 they would be confounded with the Heavens ; but it rs 
 very common on the ground, in the flowers of herbs, fuch 
 as the blue bottle, the fcablous, the violet, the liverwort. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 241 
 
 the iris, and many others. On the contrary, the colour of 
 the earth is very common in the fruits of lofty trees, fuch 
 as the cheftnut, the walnut, the cocoa nut, and the cone 
 of the pine. Hence we have an intimation, that the point 
 «f view of this magnificent pifture was taken from the 
 eye of Man. 
 
 Nature, after having diftinguifhed the harmonic colour 
 of each vegetable, by the contrafting colour of its flow- 
 ers, and of its fruits, has followed the fame laws in the 
 forms which fhe has given them. The moft beautiful of 
 jForms, as we have feen, is the fpherical form ; and the moft 
 agreeable contraft which it is capable of forming, is when 
 found in oppofition to the radiating form. You will fre- 
 quently find this form and its contraft in the aggregation 
 of the flowers that go by the name of radiated, as the daify, 
 which has a circle of fmall, white, divergent petals, fur- 
 rounding its yellow diflc : We find it likewife, with other 
 combinations, in the blue bottle, in the afters and a mul- 
 titude of other fpecies. When the radiating parts of the 
 flower are outerraoft, the fpherical parts are inmoft, as in 
 the fpecies which I have juft named ; but when the firft 
 are inmoft, the fpherical parts are outmoft : This may be 
 remarked in thofe whofe ftamina are drawn out into length, 
 and the petals in fpherical portions, fuch as the flowers of 
 the hawthorn and of the apple tree, and moft part of the 
 rofaceous and liliaceous plants. Sometimes the contraft 
 of the flower is with the furrounding parts of the plant. 
 The rofe is one of thofe in which it is moft ftrongly 
 marked : Its diflc is formed of beautiful fpherical por- 
 tions, its calix is briftled with beards, and its ftalk with 
 thorns. 
 
 W^hen the fpherical form is found placed, in a flower, 
 between the radiating and the parabolic, then there is n 
 complete elementary generation, the effeft of which is al- 
 ways highly agreeable ; it is this, too, which is produced 
 by moft of the flowers that have juft been named, by the 
 profile of their calices, which terminate their projeain^- 
 
 VOL. II. G ff 
 
ii42 A VINDICATION of 
 
 ftems. The nofegay girls are fo fenfible of tlie value of 
 this combination, that they fell a fimple rofeonits branch 
 at a much higher price than they would afk for a large 
 pofy of the fame flowers, efpecially if there are on it a 
 few buds, which prefent the charming progrelTions of the 
 florification. But Nature is fo vaft, and my incapacity fo 
 great, that I muft reftri6l myfelf to throwing a fimple 
 glance on the contrail, which arifes from the fimple op- 
 pofition of forms : It is fo univerfal, that Nature has giv- 
 en it to plants which had it not in themfelves, by oppof- 
 ing them to others which have a configuration entirely 
 different. 
 
 The fpecics oppofite in forms are almofl always in com- 
 pany. When you fall in with an old willow, on the bank 
 of a river, which art has not degraded, you may frequent- 
 ly fee upon it a great convolvulus covering the radiated 
 foliage of the tree with its own heart formed leaves, and 
 its bell fhaped white flowers, to make up the defe£l of 
 apparent flowers, which Nature has denied to this tree. 
 Different fpecies of ropeweed produce the fame harmonies 
 on various fpecies of high gramineous plants. 
 
 Thefe plants, called creeping, are fcattered over the 
 whole vegetable kingdom, and are appropriated, as I fup- 
 pofe, to each vertical fpecies. They have a great variety 
 of methods of fixing themfelves on the upright plant, 
 which would alone merit a particular treatife. There are 
 fome which turn themfelves fpirally around the trunks of 
 forefl trees, fuch as the honeyfuckle ; others, as peafe, 
 have hands with three to five fingers, by which they lay 
 hold of Ihrubbery : It is very remarkable, that thofe 
 hands do not make their appearance till they have acquir- 
 ed a height at which they begin to have occafion for them 
 as a fupport ; others, as the baftard pomegranate, attach 
 themfelves in form of cork fcrew ; others form a fimple 
 hook with the tail of their leaf, as the naflurtium : The 
 pink employs a fimilar method of adhefion. Thefe two 
 beautiful flowers are fupported in our gardens with rods ; 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 243 
 
 but it would be a problem well worthy of the inveftigatioii 
 of Florifts, to afcertain what are the auxiliary plants, ii I 
 may call them fo, to which thefe were defigned to unite 
 themfelves, in the places where they are native : Delight- 
 ful groups might be formed by their reunion. 
 
 I am perfuaded that there is not a vegetable but what 
 has its oppofite in fome parts of the Earth : Their mutu- 
 al harmony is the caufe of the fecret pleafure which we 
 feel in wild rural fcenes, where Nature is at liberty to 
 combine them. The fir tree rifes, in the forefts of the 
 North, like a lofty pyramid, of a dark green, and with a 
 mo'tionlefs attitude. The birch is almoft always found in 
 jits vicinity, and grows to nearly the fame height, is of the 
 form of an inverted pyramid, of a lively verdure, with a 
 moveable foliage, continually playing about with every 
 breath of the wind. The round leafed trefoil loves to grow 
 in the midft of the fine grafs, and to adorn it with its own 
 flowery nofegay. Nay, I believe that Nature has made 
 thofe deep incifions in the leaves of a great many vegeta- 
 bles, entirely in the view of facilitating alliances of this 
 fort, and of opening a paffage for the graffes, the verdure 
 and delicacy of whofe Items form with them an infinity of 
 contrails. Of this inftances innumerable may be feen in 
 uncultivated fields, where tufts of grafs pierce through the 
 broad plants of the thiftle and the echium. This arrange- 
 ment has, likewife, been made, in order that the gralTes, 
 which are moft ufeful of all vegetables, might receive a 
 portion of the rain from Heaven, through the interftices 
 of the broad foliage of thofe privileged children of Na- 
 ture, which would ftifle every thing around them, but for 
 thofe profound incifions. Nature does nothing merely 
 for the pleafure of doing it, but always conneBs with it 
 fome reafon of utiUty : This appears to me the fo much 
 more decidedly marked, that the incifions in leaves are 
 much more common, and deeper in the plants and undei 
 fhrubberv, which rife to no great height, than in tree-^. 
 
S44 A VINDICATION op 
 
 The harmonics refulting from contraft, are to be foiini 
 even in the waters. The reed, on the brink of rivers, 
 raifes into the air its radiating leaves, and its embrowned 
 diftafF, whereas the nympha[^a extends at its feet a broad 
 heart formed foliage, and rofes of yellow gold : The one 
 prefents, on the waters, a continued pallifadc, and the oth- 
 er a platform of verdure. 
 
 Similar oppofitions prefent themfelves in the moft 
 frigktful of climates. Martens^ of Hamburg, who has 
 given us a very good account of Spitzbergen, tells us, that 
 when the feamen belonging to the veffel in which he nav- 
 igated along its coafls, heaved up the anchor, they feldom 
 failed to bring up with it a very broad leaf of the alga ma- 
 rina, fix feet in length, and attached to a tail as long : 
 This leaf was fmooth, of a brown colour, fpotted with 
 black, ftriped with two white flripes, and made in form of 
 a tongue : He calls it the plant of the rock. But what 
 is very fingular, it was ufually accompanied by a hairy 
 plant, about fix feet in length, like a horfe's tail, and form- 
 ed of liairs fo fine, that one might denominate it, fays he, 
 the filk of the rock. He found on thofe difmal fiiores, 
 where the empire of Flora is in fuch a ftate of defolation, 
 the cochUaria (fcurvy grafs) and the forrel, which grew 
 together. The leaf of the firft is rounded in form of a 
 fpoon, that of the other is lengthened into the fhape of the 
 iron head of an arrow. A Phyfician of confiderable abil- 
 ity, of the name of Bartholin^* has obferved, that the vir- 
 tues of their falts are as oppofitc as their configurations ; 
 thofe of the firft are alkalies, thofe of the other are acids ; 
 and from their union refults what medical men call a neu- 
 tral fait, which they ought rather to call a harmonic fait, 
 the moft powerful remedy which can be employed as an 
 antifcorbutic, and the fcurvy is a difeafe which is readily, 
 and lifually caught in thofe dreadful climates. 
 
 ♦ Stc Chmei'i Hiftory of Common Plants, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 245 
 
 For my own part, I apprehend that the qualities of 
 plants are harmonic as their forms ; and that as often as 
 we find them grouped agreeably and conftantly, there muft 
 refult from the union of their qualities, for nourifhment, 
 fdr health, or for pleafure, a harmony as agreeable as that 
 which arifes from the contrail of their figures. This is 
 a prefumption that 1 could fupport, by referring to the in- 
 ftinft of animals, which, in browfing on the herbage, vary 
 the choice of their aliments ; but this confideration would 
 lead me away from my fubjeft. 
 
 1 Ihould never come to a conclufion, were I to go into 
 a detail refpefting the harmonies of fo many plants which 
 we undervalue, becaufe they are feeble or common. If 
 we fuppofe them, for thought's fake, of the fize of our 
 trees, the majefty of the palm tree would difappear before 
 the .magnificence of their attitudes and of their propor- 
 tions. Some of them, fuch as the echium, rife like fuperb 
 candlefticks, forming a vacuum round their centre, and 
 rearing toward Heaven their prickly arms, loaded, their 
 whole length through, with lamps of violet coloured 
 flowers. The verbafcum, on the contrary, extends around 
 it, its broad leaves of folemn drapery, and fends up from 
 its centre along diflafF of yellow flowers, as falutary to the 
 ftomach, as grateful to the touch. The violet, of deep 
 blue, contrafts, in the Spring, with the primrofc, expand- 
 ing its golden cup with a fcarlet brim. On the embrown- 
 ed angles of the rock, under the fliade of ancient beech 
 trees, the mulhroom, white and round as an ivory piece 
 for the chefs board, arifes out of a bed of mofs of the moft 
 beautiful green. 
 
 Muftirooms alone prefent a multitude of unknown con- 
 fonances and contrafts. This clafs is, firft, the moft vari- 
 ed of all thofe of the vegetables of our climates. Sebaf. 
 tian le Vaillant enumerates one hundred and four fpecies 
 of them in the vicinity of Paris, without taking into the 
 account the fungoids, which furnlfh, at leaft, a dozen 
 more. Nature has difperfed them over moft ftiady places, 
 
246 A VINDICATION. or 
 
 where they frequently form contrafts the moll extraordi- 
 nary. There are fome which thrive only on the naked 
 rock, where they prefent a foreft of fmall filaments, each 
 of which iupports its particular chapiter. There are fome 
 which grow on fubftances the moft abjeft, with forms the 
 moft folemn ; fuch i§ that whicli thrives on what falls 
 from the horfe, and ^v•hich refcm.blcs a Roman hat, whence 
 it has borrowed its name. Others prefent agreeable con- 
 fonances : Such is that which grows at the foot of the ai- 
 der, under the form of a cockle. V/hat nymph has plant- 
 ed a fliell by the root of a tree of the rivers ? 
 
 This numerous tribe appears to have its deftiny attach- 
 ed to that of the trees, which have each a mufliroom ap- 
 propriated to itfcif, and rarely to be found elfewhere ; 
 Such are thofe v/hich grow only on the roots of plumb 
 trees and pines. To no purpofe does Heaven pour down 
 its Copious rains ; the mufliroom, under covert of it« um- 
 brella, receives not a fingle drop. They derive the whole 
 fupport ot life from the Earth, and from the potent vege- 
 table to whofe fortune they have united their own : Like 
 thofe little Savoyards, who are planted as polls at the 
 gates of the hotels of the Great, they extratl their fubfill- 
 ence out of the fuperfluity of another ; they grow under 
 ihe fliade of the Powers of the forefl, and live on the fu- 
 perabundance of their fumptuous banquets. 
 
 Other vegetables prefent oppofitions of llrength to 
 weaknefs in a different way, and confonances of protec- 
 tion ftill more dilHnguifhed. Thofe which we have been 
 mentioning, like lordly Chieftains, leave their humble 
 friends at their feet : The others carry them in their arms, 
 and place them upon their heads. They frequently re- 
 ceive the recompenfe of their noble hofpitality. The li- 
 annes which, in the Antilles Iflands, attach themfelves to 
 :he trees of the forefl, defend them from the fury of the 
 hurricane. The Gallic Oak has oftener than once feen 
 itfelf an ohjeft of veneration to the Nations, from having 
 carried the miflletoc in its branches.. The iw, a friend to 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. S4; 
 
 monuments and tombs ; the ivy, with which, in ancient 
 times, they crowned the Poets who conferred immortality, 
 fometimes covers with its foliage the trunks of the ftate- 
 lieft trees. It is one, among many, of the irrefiflible proofs 
 of the vegetable compenfations of Nature ; for I do not 
 recolleft that I ever faw the ivy on the trunks of pines, of 
 firs, or of other trees whofe foliage lafts all the year round. 
 It invefts thofe only which are ftripped by the hand of 
 Vl^inter. Symbol of a generous friendfhip, it attaches it- 
 felf only to the wretched ; and when death itfelt has fmit- 
 ten its proteftor, it rellores him again the honours of the 
 foreil where he lives no longer ; it makes him revive, by 
 decorating his ftiade with garlands of flowers, and feftoons 
 of undecaying verdure. 
 
 Thegreatefl part of plants which grow under the fhade, 
 are adorned with the moft vivid colours ; thus the mofTes 
 difplay the brilliancy of their -emerald green on the duflcy 
 fides of the rocks. In the forefts, the mufliroom and the 
 agaricum diftinguifh themfelves by their colours from the 
 roots of the trees under which they grow. The ivy de- 
 taches itfelf from their gray barks by its fhining green ; 
 the miftletoe difclofes its branches of a yellowilh green, 
 and its fruits fimilar to pearls, amidft the thick foliage of 
 the oak. The aquatic convolvulus dazzles you with its 
 large white bell fhaped flowers on the trunk of the willow. 
 The virgins' bower clothes with verdure the ancient tow- 
 ers, and, in Autumn, her foliage of gold and purple, feems 
 to fix, on their fober eminences, the rich colours of the 
 fetting Sun. Other plants, entirely concealed from the 
 eye, difcover themfelves by their perfumes. It is thus 
 that the obfcure violet invites the hand of lovers to the 
 bofom of the prickly (hrub. And thus is verified, on ev- 
 ery hand, that great Law of contrails, which governs 
 the World : No aggregation is, in plants, the efFe6l of 
 chance. 
 
 Nature has eftabliflied, in the numerous tribes of the 
 vegetable kingdom, a multitude of alliances, the end of 
 
■48 A ViKDICATlOxN op 
 
 which is unknown to us. There are plants, for example;, 
 the fexes of which are on different individuals, as in the 
 animal Creation. There are others whom you always 
 find united in feveral clufters, as if they loved to live in 
 fociety ; others, on the contrary, you almoft always meet 
 with in a flate of folitude. I prefume, that ^lany of thefe 
 relations are connefted with the charafter of the birds 
 which live on their fruits, and which refow them. The 
 herbage in the meadows frequently reprefent the bearing 
 of the trees in the forefts ; there are fome which, in their 
 foliage and proportions, refemble the pine, the fir, and 
 the oak : Nay, 1 believe that every tree has a confonance 
 in its correfponding herb. It is by a magic of this fort, 
 that fmall fpots of ground prefent to us the extent of a 
 large diflrift. If you are under a grove of oaks, and per- 
 ceive, on an adjoining hillock, tufts of germander, the fo- 
 liage of which refembles them in miniature, and you will 
 feel all the effeft of a perfpeftive. Thefe diminutions of 
 proportion extend from trees even down to moffes, and are 
 the caufes, in part, of the pleafure which we enjoy in wild 
 rural fccnes, where Nature has had leiJure to difpofe and 
 accomplifh her plans. The effeft of thofe vegetable illu- 
 fions is fo undoubtedly certain, that if vou have the ground 
 cleared, the extent of any particular fpot, when ftrip- 
 ped of its natural vegetables, appears much fmaller than 
 before. 
 
 Nature farther employs diminifhing fhades of verdure, 
 which, being lighter on the fummit of trees than at their 
 bafe, gives them the appearance of being more lofty than 
 they really are. She appropriates, befides, the pyramidical 
 form to many mountain trees, in order to increafe the ap- 
 parent elevation of their fite ; this is obfervable in the 
 larch, the fir, thecyprefs, and in many other plants, which 
 grow on heights. She fometimes unites, in the fame 
 place, the effects of feafons and of climates the mod op- 
 pofite. She clothes, in hot climates, the whole fides of 
 mountains with the vegetable called the ice plant, becaufe 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^g 
 
 It ffeems entirely covered over with flakes of ice ; you 
 would believe that, in the midft of Summer, Boreas 
 had breathed upon it all the chilling blafts of the North. 
 
 On the other hand, we find, in Ruffia, moftes in the 
 midft of Winter ; which, from the red and fmokv coiour 
 of their flowers, have the appearance of being fet on fire. 
 In our rainy climates, fhe crowns the fummits of hillocks 
 with broom and rofemary ; and the tops of ancient tow- 
 ers with the yellow gilliflowcr : In the midft of the 
 gloomieft day, you would imagine you faw the rays of the 
 Sun fhining upon them. 
 
 In another place, fhe produces the efFefl of the wind 
 in the midft of perfeft ftillnefs. In many parts of Amer- 
 ica, a bird has only to alight on a tuft of the fenfitive 
 plant, in order to put in motion the whole ftripe, which 
 fometimes extends to three furlongs. The European trav- 
 eller ftands ftill, and obferves, with aftonifhment, the air 
 tranquil, but the herbage in motion. I myfelf have fome- 
 times miftaken, in our own woods, the murmur of pop- 
 lars and of afpins, for the bubbling of brooks. Oftener than 
 once, feated under their fhade, on the fkirt of a meadow, 
 whofe herbage the winds put into an undulatory motion, 
 this multiplied tremuloufnefs has transfufed into my blood 
 the imaginary coolnefs of the ftream. 
 
 Nature frequently employs the aerial vapours, in order 
 to give a greater extent to our landfcapes. She difFufes 
 them over the cavities of valleys, and ftops them at the 
 windings of rivers, giving you a glimpfe, at intervals, 
 of their long canals, illuminated by the Sun. She thus 
 multiplies their plans, and prolongs their extent. She 
 fometimes withdraws this magic veil from the bottom of 
 the valleys, and rolling it over the adjacent mountains, 
 on which fhe tinges it with vermillion and azure, fhe 
 confounds the circumference of the Earth with the vault 
 of Heaven. It is thus, that fhe employs clouds as evan- 
 efcent as the illufions of human life, to raife us to Heav- 
 en ; it is thus that flie expands over her moft profound 
 
 VOL. II, H li 
 
a^o A VINDICATION of 
 
 myfteries, the ineffable fenfations of infinity, and that (bt 
 withdraws from our fenfes the perception of her Works, 
 in order to cenivey to our minds a more impreflive feeling 
 of there. 
 
 ANIMAL HARMONIES OF PLANTS. 
 
 Nature, after having eftabliflied on a foil formed of 
 fragments, infenfible and lifelefs, vegetables endowed with 
 principles oi life, of growth and generation, accommodat- 
 ed to thefe beings which had, together with thefe fame 
 faculties, the power of felf motion, difpofitions to inhabit 
 them, paflions to derive their nouriftiment from them, and 
 an inftinft which impels them to make a proper choice : 
 Thefe are animals. I (hall here fpeak only of the mofl 
 common relations which they have with plants ; but were 
 I to attempt a detail of thofe .which their innumerable 
 tribes have with tho elements, with each other, and with 
 Man, whatever might be my ignorance, I fhould difclofe 
 a multitude of fcenes flill more worthy of admiration. 
 
 In an order entirely new, Nature has not changed her 
 Laws : She has ellablifhed the fame harmonies and the 
 fame contrafls, of animals to plants, as of plants to the el- 
 ements. It would appear natural to our feeble reafon, 
 and confonant to the great principles of our Sciences, 
 which afcribe [o much power to analogies, and to phyfi- 
 cal caufes, that fo many fcnfible beings which are pro- 
 duced in the midfl of verdure, ihould be, in procefs of 
 time, affefted by it. The imprefTions of their parents, 
 added to thofe of their own infancy, which ferve to ex- 
 plain fo many appearances in the human fpecies, acquir- 
 ing, in them, increafing ftrength, from generation to gene- 
 ration, by new tints, ought, at length, to exhibit oxen and 
 fheep as green as the grafs on which they pafture. We 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. t^i 
 
 liave obfervcd, in the preceding Study, that as vegetables 
 were detached from the ground by means of their green 
 colour, the animals which live on verdure diftinguifli 
 themfelves from it, in their turn, by means of their dufky 
 colours; andthofe which live on the du/ky barks of trees, 
 ©rof other dark grounds, are invefted with colours bril- 
 liant, and fometimes green. 
 
 On this fubjeft, I have to remark, that many fpecies of 
 the birds of India, which live amidft the foliage of trees, 
 as the greateft part of paroquets, many of the colibri, 
 and even of turtles, arc of the fined green ; but independ- 
 ently of the white, blue and red marbled fpots, which dif- 
 tinguilh their different tribes, and render them perceptible 
 at a diftance upon the trees, the brilliant verdure of their 
 plumage detaches them, to great advantage, from the fol- 
 emn and imbrowned verdure of thofe fouthern forefts. 
 We have feen that Nature employs this as the general 
 means of diminishing the reflexes of the heat ; but, that 
 (he might not confound the objefts of her pifture, if flie 
 has darkened the ground of her fcene, Ihe has beilewed 
 greater brilliancy on the drefTes of the a6l:ors. 
 
 It would appear that Nature has appropriated the fpe- 
 cies of animals coloured, in the moil agreeable manner, to 
 the fpecies of vegetables, whofe flowers are the leaft viv- 
 id, as a compenfation. There are much fewer brilliant 
 flowers between the Tropics, than in the temperate Zones ; 
 and, as a compenfation, the infefts, the birds, and even 
 the <juadrupcds, fuch as feveral fpecies of monkeys and 
 lizards, are there arrayed in the mofl: lively colours. 
 When they reft on their proper vegetable, they form with 
 them the mofl beautiful contrails, and the mofl lovelv 
 harmonies, I have often flood flill, in the Weftindies, 
 to contemplate the little lizards, which live on the branch- 
 es of trees, employing themfelves in catching flies. They 
 are of a beautiful apple green, and have on their back a 
 fort of charafters of the mofl vivid red, refembling the 
 letters of the Arabian alphabet. When a cocoa trca haJ 
 
2^3 A VINDICATION Of 
 
 feveral of them difperfed along its ftem, never was there 
 Egyptian Pyramid ot porphyry, with its hieroglyphics, 
 fo myfterious and fo magnificent, in my eyes.* 
 
 I have, likewife, feen flocks of fmall birds, denominat- 
 ed cardinals, becaufe they are red all over, fettle on fhrub- 
 bery, the verdure of which was blackened by the Sun, and 
 prefent the appearance of girandoles ftudded with little 
 burning lamps. Father du Tertre fays, that there is not, 
 in the Antilles, a fpeftacle more brilliant, than the alight- 
 ing of coveys of the parrot fpecies, called arras, on the 
 fummit of a palm tree. The blue, the red and the yellow 
 of their plumage, covers the boughs of the flowerlefs tree, 
 with the moft fuperb enamel. Harmonies fomewhat fim- 
 ilar may be feen in our own climates. The goldfinch, 
 with his red head, and wings tipped with yellow, appears, 
 at a diftance, on a bufli, like the flower of the thiflle in 
 which he was hatched. You would fometimes take the 
 flate coloured wagtail, when perched on the extremity of 
 the leaves of a reed, for the flower of the iris. 
 
 It would be a very great curiofity to coUeft a great 
 number of thefe oppofitions, and of thofe analogies. They 
 would lead us to a difcovery of the plant, which is pecu- 
 liarly adapted to each animal. Naturalifl;s have paid to 
 thofe adaptations no great degee of attention ; fuch of 
 them as have written the Hiftory of Birds, have clafTed 
 them according to the feet, the bill, the noflrils. They 
 fometimes fpeak of the feafons of their appearance, but 
 fcarcely ever of the trees which they frequent. Thofe 
 only who, employed in making collections of butterflies, 
 are frequently under the neceffity of looking for them in 
 their flate of nymph, or caterpillar, have fometimes diftin- 
 guifhed thofe infctls by the names of the vegetables on 
 
 * They liave foraetimcfi fcrvcd mc to explain the moral fenfe of hiero- 
 glyphics, engraven on the obelifks of Egypt, in honour of her conquering 
 heroes. • On beholding the charaflcrs traced upon them from right to left, 
 with heads, beaks and pawSj thrj' breught to my rccollcflion the little Ry 
 •aichcrs of myp^ilm trees^ 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 2^3 
 
 which they found them. Such are the caterpillars of the 
 tithymale, of the pine, of the elm, and fo on, which they 
 difcovered to be peculiarly appropriated to thefe vegeta- 
 ables. But there is not an animal exifling but what may 
 be referred to its own particular correfponding plant:. 
 
 We have divided plants into aerial, aquatic and terrel- 
 trial, as animals themfelves are divifcble, and we have 
 found, in the two extreme claffes, unvarying harmonies 
 with their elements. They may be farther divided into 
 two claffes, into trees and herbs, as animals likcwife are 
 into volatile and quadrupeds. Nature does not affociate the 
 two kingdoms in confonances, but in contrails ; that 
 is, fhe does not attach the great animals to the great veg- 
 etables ; but unites them contrariwife, by affociating the 
 clafs of trees with that of the fmall animals, and that of 
 herbs with the great quadrupeds : And by means of thefe 
 oppofitions, fhe beftows adaptations ol proteftion to the 
 feeble, and of accommodation to the powerful. 
 
 This Law is fo general, that 1 have remarked, in every 
 country, where there is no great variety in the fpecies of 
 graffes, thofe of the quadrupeds which live upon them are 
 but few in number ; and that wherever the fpecies of 
 trees are multiplied, thofe of volatile are likewife fo. The 
 truth of this may be afcertained by confulting the herbals 
 of many parts of America, and, among others, thofe of 
 Guyana and of Brafil, which prefent but few varieties in 
 the graffes, but a great number in the trees. It is well 
 known that thofe countries have, in fa61, fev^ quadrupeds 
 natural to them, and that they are peopled, on the contra- 
 ry, with an infinite variety of birds and infefts. 
 
 If we call a glance on the relations of graffes to quadru- 
 peds, we fhall find that, notwithftanding their apparent 
 contrafls, there is aftually between thcni a m.nltitude of 
 real correfpondencies. The fmall elevation of the gram- 
 ineous plants places them within the reach of the jaws of 
 quadrupeds, whofe head is in a horizontal polition, and 
 Irequently incliiicd toward the ground. Their delicate 
 
e^^ A VINDICATION of 
 
 {hoots feem formed to be laid hold of by broad and flefhy 
 lips ; their tender flems, eafily fnapped by the incifiv^c 
 teeth; their mealy feeds eafily bruifed by the grinders. 
 Befides, their biifliy tiifts, and elaftic without being ligne- 
 ous, prefent foft litter to ponderous bodies. 
 
 If, on the contrary, we examine the correfpondencies 
 which cxift between trees and birds, wc fliall find that the 
 branches of trees may be eafily clafped by the four toed 
 feet of moft birds, which Nature has difpofed in fuch a 
 manner, that by means of three before and one behind, 
 they may be able to grafp the bough as with a hand. A- 
 gain, the birds find, in the different tiers of the foliage, 
 a fhelter againfl the rain, the Sun, and the cold, toward 
 which the thicknefs of the trunks farther contribute. The 
 apertures formed in thefe, and the moffes which grow up- 
 on them, furnifh fituations for building their nefls, and 
 jnaterials for lining them. The round or oblong feeds of 
 trees are accommodated to the form of their bills. Such 
 as bear flefliy fruits are reforted to by birds, which have 
 beaks pointed, or crooked, like a pick axe. 
 
 In the i Hands of the regions fituated between the Trop- 
 ics, and along the banks of the great rivers of America, 
 the greaieft part of maritime and fluviatic trees, among 
 others, many fpecics of the palm tree, bear fruits enclofed 
 in very hard fhells, whereby they are enabled to float on 
 the face of the waters, which refow them at a great dif- 
 tancc ; but their covering does not fecure them from the 
 attack of the birds. 'I he different tribes of paroquets 
 lA-hich have made them their habitation, and of which I 
 have reafon to believe that there is a fpecies appropriated 
 to each fpecies of palm tree, eafily find means to open 
 their hard cafes with hooked bills, which pierce like an 
 ?wl, and hold fall like pincers. 
 
 Nature has, iart^er, acconunodatcd animals of a third 
 ttrdcr, which find in the bark, or in the flower of a plant, 
 as many convcniencies as the quadruped has in a mead- 
 t)W, or the bjrd in the whole tree : 1 mean the infctis. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 2^5 
 
 Certain naturalifts have divided them into fix great tribes, 
 which they have charafterized, according to cuilom, but 
 to very little purpofe, by Greek names. They clafs them 
 into coleopterous^ or cafed, infe6ls ; as the fcarab tribe, 
 fuch are our maybugs, or chafers : Into hampterous, or 
 half cafed, as the gallinfetls, fuch is the kermes : Into 
 tetrapterous farinaceous, or four mealy winged, as butter- 
 flies ; into tctrapterdus, without any addition, or four nak- 
 ed winged, as bees ; into dipterous, or two winged, as the 
 common fly ; and into apterous, or winglefs, as the ant. 
 But thefe fix clafles admit of a multitude of divifions and 
 of fubdivifions, which unite fpecies ot infefts, of forms 
 and inftin£ts the moll diflimilar; and feparate a great ma- 
 ny others of them which have othervvife a very ftriking 
 analogy among themfelves. 
 
 Whatever may be in this, the order of animals in quef- 
 tion appears to be particularly attributed to trees. Pliny 
 obferves that ants are fmgularly fond of the grains of the 
 cyprefs. He tells us, that they attack the cones which 
 contain them, on their hali opening as they arrive at ma- 
 turity, and plunder them to their very lalt feed ; and he 
 confiders it as a miracle of Nature, that an infeft fo di- 
 minutive fhould deftroy the feed ofoneof the largeft trees 
 in the World. I believe we never fhall be able to eilab- 
 lifh, in the different tribes of infefts, a real order, and in 
 the uudy of them, that pleafure and utility of which it is 
 fufceptible, but by referring them to the different parts of 
 vegetables. Thus we might refer to the ne6lars of the 
 flowers, the buuerflies and flies which are furniflied with 
 a probofcis for fipping up their juices ; to their flamina, 
 thofe flies which, like the bee, have fpoon mouths fcoop- 
 ed out in their thighs, lined with hair, for colleftlng their 
 powder, and four wings to aflTift them in carrying off" their 
 booty ; to the leaves of plants, the common flies and the 
 gallinfefts, which have pointed and hollow prongs for 
 making incifions in them, and tor drinking up their flu- 
 ids; to the grains, the fcarab race, as the weevil, which 
 
2,-6 A VINDICATION of 
 
 is tlcTigncd to force its way into the heart of the feed W 
 feed upon its meal, and which is provided with wing«, 
 inclofed m cafes, to prevent their being injured, and with 
 a file to open for itfelf a pafTage; to the ftem, thofe worms 
 which ar6 quite naked, becaufe they have no need of be- 
 ing clothed in a fubflance of wood, which flielters them 
 on every fide, but they are furniflicd with augers, by the 
 help of which they fometimes go nigh to deftroy whole 
 forefts ; finally, to the wreck of every fort, the ants which 
 come armed with pincers, and with an inftinft of advanc- 
 ing in bands to cut to pieces, and to carry ofFevery thing 
 thatfuits their purpofe. 
 
 The dcfcrt of this vaft vegetable banquet is hurled down 
 by the rainy torrents to the rivers, and thence to the Sea, 
 where it prefents a new order of relation with the fifhes. 
 It is worthy of remark, that the mo ft ata^aftive baits 
 which can be prefented to them, are deduced from the 
 vegetable kingdom, and particularly from the grains, or 
 from the fubifances Qf the plants, which have the aquatic 
 characters which we have indicated, fuch as the hard fhell 
 of the Levant, the rufli of Smyrna, the juice of the tithy- 
 mal, the Celtic fpikcnard, the cummin, theanife, the net- 
 lie, the fweet marjoram, the root of the birthwort, and the 
 feed of the hemp. Thus, the relations of thefe plants 
 with fifhes confirm what has been faid of thofe of their 
 grains with the waters. 
 
 By referring the different tribes of infetls to the differ- 
 ent parts of plants, and in that way only, can we difcern 
 the reafons for which Nature has been determined to be- 
 flow on thofe diminutive animals figures fo extraordinary. 
 Vv'e fhould tlien know the ufes of their utcnfils, of which 
 the greater part is hitherto unknown; and we fhould have 
 continually new occahon to admire the Divine Intelli- 
 gence, and to perte£l our own. On the other ha-nd, fuch 
 progrcfs in knowledge would diffufe the clearefl light o- 
 ver many parts of plants, the utility of which is a worlA 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. g^ 
 
 unknown to Botanifts, becaufe they have tronfonancefi 
 •nly with animals. 
 
 I am perfuaded, that there is not a fingle vegetable but 
 what has connefled with it, at leaft, one individual of 
 ^ach of the fix general claffes of infefts, acknowledged by 
 Naturalifts. As Nature has divided each genus of plants 
 into different fpecies, in order to render them capable of 
 growing in different fituations ; flie has, in like manner, 
 divided each genus of infefts into different fpecies, in or- 
 der to adapt them to inhabit different fpecies of plants. 
 For this reafon fhe has painted, and numbered, in a thoufw 
 and different, but invariable ways, the almoft infinite di- 
 vifions of the fame branch. For example, we conftantly 
 find on the elm the beautiful butterfly, called the gold 
 brocade, on account of its rich colouring. That which 
 goes by the name of the four omicrons, and which lives I 
 know not where, always produces defcendants impreffed 
 with that Greek charafter, four times, on their wings. 
 There is a fpecies of bee with five claws, which lives on 
 radiated flowers only ; without thofe claws, flie could not 
 cling faff to the plane mirrors of thofe flowers, and load 
 herfelf from their ftamina, fo eafily as the common bee, 
 which ufually labours at the bottom of thofe which have 
 a deep corolla. 
 
 Not that I imagine any one plant nouriflied, in its dif- 
 ferent varieties, all the collateral branches of one family 
 of infefts. I believe that each genus of thefe extends 
 much farther than the genus of plants which ferves as its 
 principal bafis. ' In this, Nature manifefts another of her 
 Laws, by virtue of which flie has rendered that the befl 
 which is the moft common. As the animal is of a nature 
 fuperior to the vegetable, the fpecies of the firft are more 
 multiplied, and more generally diffufed than thofe of the. 
 fecond. For example, there are not fo many as fixteea 
 hundred fpecies of plants in the vicinity of Paris; but 
 within the fame compafs there are enumerated near fix 
 thoufand fpecies of flies. This leads jnc to prefumc, 
 
 VOL, II. jf i 
 
2.S A VINDICATION or 
 
 therefore, that the diflerent tribes of plants crofs with thofe 
 of animals, which renders their fpecies fufceptible of dif- 
 ferent harmonies. Of this a judgment may be formed 
 from the variety of talles, in birds of the fame family. 
 The black headed yellow hammer neflles in the ivy ; the 
 red headed in walls, in the neighbourhood of hemp fields ; 
 the brown yellow hammer builds on trees by the high- 
 way's fide, where fhe finifhes off her neft with horfe hair. 
 A dozen fpecies of that bird are enumerated in our cli- 
 mates, each of which has its particular department. Our 
 different forts of larks are likewife apportioned to differ- 
 ent fituations ; to the woods, to the meadows, to the heaths, 
 to arable lands, and to the fhores of the Sea. 
 
 Very interefling obfervations may be made refpefting 
 the duration of vegetables, which are unequal, though 
 fubjugated to the influences of the fame elements. The 
 oak ferves as a monument to the nations : and the nojlo^ 
 cium, which grows at his foot,' lives only a fingle day. 
 All I ffiall fay upon this head, in general, is, that the pe- 
 riod of their decay is by no means regulated in conformi- 
 ty to that of their growth ; neither is that of their fecun- 
 dity proportioned to their weaknefs, to climates, or to 
 feafons, as fome have pretended. Pliny^ quotes inflan- 
 ces of holmes, of plane trees, and of cypreffes, which ex- 
 ifled in his time, and which were more ancient than Rome, 
 fhat is, more than feven hundred years old. He farther 
 tells us, that there were ftill to be feen near Troy, around 
 the tomb of llus, oaks which had been there from the 
 time that Troy took the name of Ilium, which carries us 
 back to an antiquity much more remote. 
 
 I have feen, in Lower Normandy, in a village church 
 yard, an aged yew, planted in the time of William the 
 Conqueror; it is flill crowned with verdure, though its 
 trunk cavernous, and through and through pervious to 
 ihe day, refembl^s the ftavcs of an old cafk. Nay, there 
 
 ♦ Natural HiHory, book xvi. chap. 44, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE, «59 
 
 are buflies which feem to have immortality conferred up- 
 on them. We find, in many parts of the kingdom, haw- 
 thorns, which the devotion of the Commonahy has confe- 
 crated by images of the Virgin, and which have laded for 
 feveral ages, as may be afcertairied by the infcriptions up- 
 on the chapels which have been reared in the vicinity. 
 
 But, in general, Nature has proportioned the duration 
 and the fecundity of plants to the demands of animal life. 
 A great many plants expire as foon as they have yielded 
 their feed, which they c@mmit to the winds. There arc 
 fome, fuch as mufhrooms, whofe exiftence is limited to a 
 few days, as the fpecies of flies which feed upon them. 
 Others retain their feeds all the Winter through, for the 
 ufe of the birds ; fuch are the fruits of moft flirubs. 
 
 The fecundity of plants is by no means regulated ac- 
 cording to their fize; but proportionally to the fecundity 
 of the animal fpecies which is to feed upon them. The 
 pannic, and the fmall millet, and fome other gramineous 
 plants, fo ufeful to man and beaft, produce incomparably 
 more grains than many plants, both greater and fmaller 
 than themfelves. There are many herbs which perpet- 
 uate themfelves, by their feeds, only once a year ; but the 
 chickweed renovates itfelf by its feeds, up to feven or 
 eight times, without being interrupted in the procefs even 
 by Winter, it produces ripe feeds within fix weeks from 
 the time of its being fown. The capfule, which contains 
 them, then inverts itfelf, turning toward the earth and half 
 opens, to leave them at liberty to be carried away by the 
 winds, and the rains, which fow them again every where. 
 This plant q;ifures, the whole year through, the fubfift- 
 ence of the fmall birds of our climates. Thus, Provi- 
 dence is fo much the more powerful, as the creature is 
 more feeble. 
 
 Other plants have relations to animals the more tender- 
 ly afFecling, in proportion as climates and feafons feem t© 
 exercife over the animal the greater degree of feverity. 
 Were we cnabl«4 to iHveftigatc thefe. adaptations to the 
 
b6« a vindication of 
 
 bottom, they would explain all the varieties of vegetation, 
 in every latitude, and in every feafon. Wherefore, for 
 example, do mod of the trees of the North fhed their 
 leaves in Winter ; and wherefore do thofe of the South re- 
 tain theirs all the year round? Wherefore, in defiance of 
 the Winter's cold in the North, do the firs there continue 
 always clothed with verdure ? It is a matter of no fmall 
 difficulty to difcover the caufe of this ; but the end is ob- 
 vioufly difcernible. If the birch and the larch of the 
 North drop their foliage, on the approach of Winter, it is 
 to furnilh litter to the beafts of the foreft ; and if the pyr- 
 amidical fir there retains its leaves, it is to afford them 
 fhelter amidft the fnows. This tree then prefents to the 
 birds the mofTes which are fufpended on its branches, and 
 its cones replenilhed with ripe kernels. In their vicinity, 
 oft times, thickets of the fervice tree difplay for their ufc 
 the fhining clufters of their fcarlet berries. 
 
 In the Winters of our climates, many evergreen Ihrubs, 
 as the ivy, the privet and others, which remain loaded 
 with black or red fruit, contrafting ftrikingly with the 
 fnow, as the prime print, the thorn and the eglantine, pre- 
 fent to the winged creation both a habitation and food. 
 In the countries of the Torrid Zone, the earth is clothed 
 with frefh liannes, and fhaded with trees of a broad foliage, 
 under which animals find a cool retreat. The trees them- 
 felves, of thofe climates, feem afraid of expofing their 
 fruits to the burning heat of the Sun : Inftead of rearing 
 them as a cone, or exhibiting them on the circumference 
 of their heads, they frequently conceal them under a thick 
 foliage, and bear them attached to their trunks, or at the 
 fprouting of their branches : Such are the jacquier, the ba- 
 nana, the palm tree of every fpecies, the papayer, and a 
 multitude of others. If their fruits invite not the animals 
 cxtenialiy, by vivid colours, they call them by the noifc 
 which they excite. The lumpifli cocoanut, as it falls 
 from the height of the tree which bears it, makes the earth 
 refound to a confidcrable diftance. The black pods •f 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 261 
 
 the canntffichr^ when ripe, and agitated by the wind, pro- 
 duce, as they clafh againft each other, a found refembling 
 the tic tac of a mill. When the grayifn fruit of the gtxv- 
 ipa of the Antilles comes to maturity, and falls from the 
 tree, it bounces on the ground with a noife like the re- 
 port of a piftol.* Upon this fignal, more than one gueft, 
 no doubt, reforts thither in queft of a repaft. This fruit 
 feems particularly deftined to the ufe of the land crabs, 
 which are eagerly fond of it, and very foon grow fat on 
 this kind of food. It would have anfwered no purpofe 
 to them to fee it on the tree, which they are incapable of 
 climbing ; but they are informed of the moment when it 
 is proper for food, by the noife of its fall. ^ 
 
 Other fruits, as the jaque and mango, affe6l the fenfe 
 of fmelling in animals fo powerfully, as to be perceptible 
 more than the quarter of a league diftant, when the fruit 
 is to windward. I believe that this property, of emitting 
 a powerful perfume, is likewife common to fuch of our 
 fruits as lie concealed under the foliage, apricots, for in- 
 ftance. There are other vegetables which manifefl them- 
 felves to animals, if I may ufe that expreflion, only in the 
 night time. The jalap of Peru, or the belle of the night, 
 opens not her ftrongly fcented flowers except in the dark. 
 The flower of the nafturtium, or nun, which is a native of 
 the fame country, emits, in the d^.rk, a phofphoric light, 
 obferved, for the firft time, in Europe, by a daughter of 
 the celebi'ated Linnczus. 
 
 The properties of thefe plants convey a happy idea of 
 thofe delightful climates, in which the nights are fuf- 
 ficiently calm, and fufficiently luminous to difclofe a 
 new order of fociety among animals. Nay, there are in*. 
 fe6ls which fland in no need of any pharos to afTift them 
 in fleering their noflurnal courfes. They carry their lan- 
 terns about them ; fuch are the fpecies of luminous flies. 
 They fcatter themfelves, fometimes, in the groves of or- 
 
 * Father iu Tertre's Hiftoryof :he Antilles. 
 
262 A VINDICATION of 
 
 ange trees, of papayas, and other fruit trees, in the midft 
 of the darkeft night. They dart, at once, by feveral reit- 
 crated beatings of their wings, a dozen of fiery ftreams, 
 which illuminate the foliage and fruits of the trees where- 
 on they fettle, with a golden and bluifh light ;* then, all 
 at once reprefling their motion, they plunge again into ob- 
 fcurity. They alternately refume and intermit this fport 
 during the whole night. Sometimes there are detached 
 from them fwarms of brilliant fparks of light, which rife 
 into the air, like the emanations of a firework. 
 
 Were wc to ftudy the relations which plants have t» 
 animals, we fhould perceive in them the ufe of many of 
 the parts, which are frequently confidered as produ6lions 
 of the caprice, and of the confufion, of Nature. So wide- 
 ly extended are thofe relations, that it may be confidently 
 affirmed, that there is not a down upon a plant, not an 
 intertexture of a flirub, not a cavity, not a colour of leaf, 
 not a prickle, but what has its utility. Thefe wonderful 
 harmonies are efpecially to be remarked, with relation to 
 the lodaincrs and the nefts of animals. If, in hot coun- 
 tries, there are plants loaded with down, it is becaufe 
 there are moths, entirely naked, which clip off their fleece, 
 and weave it into clothing. There is found, on the banks 
 of the Amazon, a fpecies of reed, from twentyfive to 
 thirty feet high, the fummit of which is terminated by a 
 large ball of earth. This ball is the workmanfhip of the 
 ants, which retire thither at the time of the rains, and of 
 the periodical inundations of that river : They go up, and 
 defcend along the cavity of this reed, and live on the 
 refufe which is then fwimming around them on the fur- 
 face of the water. 
 
 It is, I piefumc, for the purpofe of furnlfliing fimilar 
 retreats to many fmall infe6b, that Nature has hollowed 
 the flcms of moll of our plants of the fiiore. The valif- 
 
 * Confult the fame ^^'ork of du Tcrtre. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 263 
 
 ueria,* which grows in the ftream of the Rhone, and car- 
 ries its flower on a fpiral ftem, capable of being drawn 
 out in proportion to the rapidity of the fudden fwcUings 
 of that river, has holes pierced through at the bafis of its 
 leaves, the ufe of which is much more extraordinary. If 
 you take up this plant by the root, and put it into a large 
 vefTel full of water, you perceive, at the bafis of its leaves, 
 mafles of a bluifli jelly, which infenfibly lengthen into 
 pyramids of a beautiful red. Thefe pyramids prefently 
 furrow themfelves into flutings, which difengage from the 
 fummit, invert themfelves all around, and prefent, by 
 their expanfion, very beautiful flowers formed of rays 
 purple, yellow and blue. By little and little, each of 
 thefe flowers advances out of the cavity in which it is 
 partly contained, and withdraws to fome diftance from the 
 plant, remaining, however, attached to it, by a fmall fila- 
 ment. You then perceive each of the rays of which thofe 
 flowers are compofed, afTume a motion peculiar to itfelf, 
 which communicates a circular movement to the water, 
 and precipitates to the centre of each of them all the 
 fmall bodies which are floating around. If thofe won- 
 derful expanfions are difturbed by any fudden fliock, im- 
 mediately every filament contrafts, all the rays clofe, and 
 all the pyramids retire into their cavities ; for thofe pre- 
 tended flowers are polypufes. 
 
 There are, in certain plants, parts which may be con- 
 fidered as charafters of uncultivated Nature, but which 
 are like all the reft of her Works, evident proofs of the 
 wifdom and providence of her Author ; fuch are the 
 prickles. Their forms are varied without end, efpecially 
 
 * Confult, with regard to the Valifneria, the Voyage of an anonymous 
 JEnglifh traveller, performed in the year 1750, to France, Italy, and the 
 Iflands of the Archipelago, in four fmall volumes, vol. i. It is ftored with 
 judicious obfervations of every kind. Confult likewife, refpefling the gen- 
 ipa, and the different fruits, plants, and animals of fouthern countries, the 
 fprightly Father du Tertre, the patriotic Father Charlevoix^ John de Lset^ the 
 Hiftorian, and all travellers who have written on the fubjeft of Nature, 
 vithout the fpirit of fyfteoj, affifted by the iigbt of rifafo^i alone. 
 
a64 A VI>;dICATION of 
 
 in hot countries. Some are fhaped like faws, like hooks, 
 like needles, like the head of a halberd, and like caltrops, 
 fome of them are round like awls, fome triangular, like 
 the fhoemaker's piercer, and fome flattened like a lancet. 
 There is no lefs variety in their aggregations. Some arc 
 arranged on the leaves in balls, like thofe of the opuntia ; 
 others in ftripes, like thofe of the Peruvian taper. Some 
 are invifible, as thofe of the fhrub of the Antilles, known 
 by tlie name of captain's wood. The leaves of this form- 
 idable plant, appear, on the upper fide, fmooth and fliin- 
 inff ; but they are covered, on the under fide, with very- 
 delicate prickles, which are inferted in fuch a manner, 
 that, apply your hand to them ever fo cautioufly, it is im- 
 poflible to avoid pricking your fingers. 
 
 There are other thorns planted only on the flems of 
 plants, others are on their branches. In our climates, 
 they are fcarcely ever to be found, except on flirubbery, 
 and on a few trees ; but in both Indies, they are fcattered 
 over a great many fpecies of trees. Their very various 
 forms and difpofitions have relations, of which the great- 
 eft part are to us unknown, to the fecurity and defence of 
 the birds which live upon them. It was neceffary that 
 many of the trees of thofe countries fhould be armed with 
 thorns, becaufe many quadrupeds are there to be foun4, 
 capable of climbing them, to eat the eggs and the young 
 of buds, fuch as the monkey, the civet cat, the tyger, the 
 wild cat, the mulk rat, ihe opoffum, the wild rat and even 
 the common rat. 
 
 The Afiatic acacia* prefents to its winged inhabitants 
 a retreat abfolutcly inacccffible to their enemies. It bears 
 
 ♦ There is a plant of the Afiatic acacia to be feen in that beautiful garden 
 adjacent to the iron gate of Chaillot, which formerly belonged to the virtu- 
 ous Chevalier de Cenjin. As to the name oifal/e acacia, given to the acacia 
 of America, I rauft obferve, that Nature produces nothing falfe. She has 
 given vaiicties of all her proddftions, in all Countries, in order to bellow 
 upon them relations adapted to the clenjents and to animals ; and when wc 
 do not find in thefelhe charaQers which we have afligoed to them, the charge 
 «f fallhood is not, iu ju.^icc, t» be lixcd on her Works, but on our fyftems. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. £6^ 
 
 ko prickles on its trunk, and in its branches ; but at the 
 feeight of ten or twelve feet, precifely at the place where 
 the tree begiits to branch off, there is a belt of feveral 
 rows of large thorns, from ten to twelve inches in length, 
 prefentlng an impenetrable rampart of fpikes, nearly re- 
 fembling the iron head of a lialberd. The collar of the 
 tree is encircled by it in fuch a manner, that it is impofli- 
 ble for any quadruped to get up. The acacia of America, 
 improperly called the falfe acacia, has its prickles formed 
 into hooks, and fcattered over its branches, undoubtedly 
 from fome unknown relation of oppofition to the fpecies 
 of quadruped which makes war on the bird that inhab- 
 its it. 
 
 There are, in the Antilles Iflands, trees which have no 
 thorny prickles, but which are much more ingenioufly 
 protected than if they had. A plant known in thofe coun- 
 tries by the name of the prickly thiftle, which is a fpecies 
 of creeping taper, attaches its roots, fimilar to filaments, 
 to the trunk of one of thofe trees, and runs to the ground 
 all around it, to a confiderable diftance, croffing its branch- 
 es one over another, and forming an inclofure of them^ 
 which no quadruped dares to approach. It likewife pro- 
 duces a fruit very grateful to the palate. On beholding 
 a tree, the foliage of which is harmlefs, filled with birds 
 that have there fixed their habitation, furrounded about 
 the roots by one of thofe prickly thiftles, and you are pre- 
 fented with the idea of one of thofe commercial defence- 
 lefs cities, apparently acceflible on every fide, but protect- 
 ed all around .by a citadel, encorapafiing it with extended 
 intrenchments. Thus the tree is on one fide, and its thorn 
 on the other. 
 
 Quadrupeds, which live on the eggs of birds, would be 
 reduced to great diflrefs, did not Nature fometimes pro- 
 duce, on the fummits of thofe very trees, a vegetable of 
 very extraordinary form, which opens a pafTage to them. 
 It is, in every refpeft, the oppofite of the prickly thifHe. 
 It is a root of two feet in length, as thick as a man's leg, 
 
 VOL. ir, K k 
 
g6^ A VINDICATION or 
 
 pricked, as if pierced with a bodkin, and adhering to a 
 branch of the tree, by a multitude of filaments, fomewhat 
 in the fame way that the prickly thiftle is affixed to the 
 under part of its trunk. Like the other, it derives its 
 nourifiiment from the tree, and emits from ten to twelve 
 great leaves, in form of a heart, of about three feet in 
 length, and two feet in breadth, refembllng the leaves of 
 the nyraphcea. Father du Tertre calls it the falfe root of 
 China. What is ftill more extraordinary, it lets fall, 
 from the top of the tree on which it is placed, in a per- 
 pendicular dircaion,.very ftrong cordage, of the fize of a 
 quill the whole length through, which takes root on 
 reaching the ground. The plant itfelf emits no fmell, but 
 this cordage fmells ftrongly of garlic. Undoubtedly, 
 when a monkey, or fome fuch clambering animal, per- 
 ceives this broad flandard of verdure, to no purpofe does 
 the tree oppofe, around its root, a fortification of thorns, 
 this fignal announces that he has a friend within the for- 
 trefs • The fmell of the cordage, which defcends down to 
 the ground, direas him to the fcaling ladder, even during 
 the night; and while the birds are (leeping in fecurity on 
 their nefts, confident in the ftrength of their bulwarks, 
 the enemy gets poffeffion of the town through the fub- 
 
 iirbs. 
 
 In thofe countries, the thorns upon the trees afford 
 proteftion even to thennfeBs. Bees there carry on their 
 iioney making proceffes in the aged trunks of prickly 
 trees, hollowed by the hand of Time. It is very remark- 
 able that Nature, who has provided this refource for the 
 bees of America, has withheld from them a fting, as if 
 thofe on the trees were fufficient for their defence. I be- 
 lieve that to this reafon it may be afcribed, though no at- 
 tention has been paid to it, that we have never hitherto 
 been able to rear in the Antilles Iflands, the honey bees 
 of the country. They refufcd, no doubt, to take up their 
 abode in domeftic hives, bccaufe they did not confider 
 themfcl-ves as there in a Hate of fecurity ; but might, per- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. Uy 
 
 haps, have been induced to make that choice, had the 
 hives, to which they were invited, been decorated and de- 
 fended by thorns, iofiibicr.;. : ,;iOv 
 If Nature employs prickly vegetables fori 'the defence 
 even of flies again ft the attacks of quadrupeds, (he fome- 
 times makes ufe of the fame means for deliveWng quadru- 
 peds from the perfecution of common flies. She has, in 
 truth, beftowed on thofe which are the mift expofed 
 to It, manes and tails, armed with long hair, to drive them 
 away ; but the multiplication of thofe infefts is fo rapid 
 m warm and humid feafons and countries^ as to threaten 
 deftruaion to the v/hole -race of animals. One of the veg- 
 etable barriers, oppofed to them by Nature, is the dionctd 
 mufcipula. This plant bears on one and the fame branch, 
 oppofite little leaves, befmeared with a fugary liquor, rc- 
 fembling manna, and ftudded with very Iharp prickles, r 
 When a fly perches on one of thofe little leaves, they in- 
 ftantly clofe with a fpring, like the jaws of a wolf trap, 
 and the fly is fpitted through and through. 
 
 There is another fpecies of the dionoea which catches 
 thofe infefts with its flower. When the fly attempts to 
 extraa.its neaareous juices, the corolla, which is tubu- 
 lous, ftiuts at the collar, feizes the infea by the probofcis, 
 and thus puts it to death. This plant is cukivated in the 
 Royal Garden. It is obfervable, that its cup formed flow- 
 er is white, radiated with red, and that thefe two colours 
 univerfally attraa flics, from their natural avidity of mili^ 
 and of blood. 
 
 There are aquatic plants, armed with thorns, proper for 
 catching fifties. You may-fee in die Royal Garden, an 
 American plant, called martinia, the flower of which has 
 a very agreeable odour, and which, from the form of its 
 rounded leaves, the fleeknefs of their tails and of their 
 fiems, has all the aquatic charaaers which have been in- 
 dicated. It has this farther charaaer peculiar to itfelf, 
 that It tranfpires fo copioufly as to appear to the touch in 
 a ftate of continual humidity. I can hct\'e no doubt, there. 
 
t68 A VINDICATION or 
 
 fore, that this plant grows in America oft the brink of th^ 
 water. But the fhell which envelops its feeds poffefles a 
 very extraordinary nautical charafter. It refembles a fifh 
 half dried, white and black, with a long fin upon the back. 
 The tail of this fifh is drawn out into great length, and 
 terminates in a very fliarp point, bent into the form of a 
 fifh hook. This tail ufually feparates into two, and thus 
 prefents a double hook. The configuration of this vege- 
 table fifh is completely fimiiar in fize, and in form, to the 
 hook which is employed at fea for catching goldneys, and 
 at the head of which is figured, in linen, a flying filh, with 
 this exception, that the goldney hook has but one curve 
 and barb, whereas the fhell of the martinia has two, which 
 mull render its effe6l more infallible. This Ihell contains 
 feveral black feeds, fhrivelled, and fimiiar to the globules 
 ot the llieep's dung flattened. 
 
 As I poflefs but few books oii Botany, I did not know 
 of what country the martinia was a native ; but having 
 lately confulted.the Work oi Linnaus, I find that we got 
 It from Vera Cruz. The celebrated Naturalifl, whom I 
 havejuft mentioned, difcovers, in this fhell, no refem- 
 blance but that of a woodcock's head ; but had he ever 
 feen the hook for goJdneys, he could not pofTibiy have 
 hefitated about preferring this fimilitude, in the appear- 
 ance, in as much as the extremity of this pretended beak 
 bends back into two hooks, which prick like needles, and 
 ^re, as well as the whole fhell, and the tail, by which it is 
 united to the flem, of a ligneous and horny fubflance, not 
 eafi ly broken afunder. John dt Laet * tells us, that the 
 land of Vera Cruz is on a level with the Sea, and that its 
 port, called St. John dt Hulloa, is formed by a fmall if, 
 land, no higher than the water ; fo that, fays he, when the 
 tide rifes very high, the land wholly difappears. 
 
 Such inundations are very common at the bottom of the 
 Gulf of Mexico, as we learn from the relation which Dam^ 
 
 ♦ Hiaory of the Wcllindics, took v. chap. 18. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 2% 
 
 fur bas given us of the Bay of Campechy, which is in 
 that vicinity. Hence I prefume, that the martinia, which 
 grows on the inundated {hores of Vera Cruz, has certain 
 relations, which we know nothing of, to the fifhes of the 
 Sea ; in as much as the feeds of feveral trees and plants 
 of thofe countries, defcribed by John de Laei, poITefs very 
 curious nautical forms. A drawing of the martinia, tak- 
 en from Nature, is prefented fronting page 221 of this 
 Volume. 
 
 But there is no occafion to refort to foreign plants, for 
 afcertaining the exiftence of vegetable relations to animal. 
 The bramb^e, which affords-, in every field through which 
 we pafs, a fhelter to fo many birds, has its prickles formed 
 into hooks ; fo that it not only prevents the cattle from 
 dillurbing the birds' retirement, but frequently lays them 
 under contribution for a flake of wool or hair, proper for 
 finifhing off their nefts, as a reprifal for hoftility commit- 
 ted, and an indemnification for danjages fuftained. Pliny 
 alleges, that this gave rife to the pretended animofity be- 
 tween the linnet and the afs. This quadruped, whofe pal- 
 ate is proof againfl; thorns, frequently browfes on the fhrub 
 in which the linnet builds her neft. She is fo terrifi- 
 ed at his voice, that on hearing it, fays he, fhe kicks down 
 her eggs ; and her callow brood die with terror of it. But 
 {he makes war upon him, in hex turn, by fixing her attack 
 on the fcratches made in his hide by the prickles, and 
 picking the flelh in thofe tender parts, to the very bone. 
 It muft be a very amufing fpeftacle to view the combat 
 between the little and melodious fongfter, and the dull, 
 braying, but otherwife inoffenfive, animal. 
 
 Did we know the animal relations of placits, we fhould 
 poffefs fources of intelligence refpefting the inftinfts of 
 the brute creation, with which we are totally unacquaint- 
 ed. We fhould know the origin of their friendfhips, and 
 of their animofities, at leafl as to thoCe which are formed 
 in fociety ; for with regard to fuch as are innate, I do not 
 J)elieve tl>at the caufe of them \vas ever revealed to any 
 
jTo A VINDICATION OF 
 
 man. Thefe are of a different order, and belong to anoth- 
 er world. How fliould fo many animals have entered in- 
 to life, under the dominion of hatred, without having been 
 offended ; furnifhed with fkill and induftry, without hav- 
 ing ferved an apprenticefhip ; and direfted by an inftinft 
 more infallible than experience ? How came the eleftri- 
 cal power to be conferred on the torpedo, invifibility on 
 the- cam^leon, and the light of the Itars themfelves on a 
 fly ? Who taught the aquatic bug to Aide along the wha- 
 lers, and another fpecies of the fame denomination to fwim 
 upon the back ; both the one and the other for catching 
 their prey, which hovers along the furface ? The water 
 fpider is ftill more ingenious. She enclofes a bubble of 
 air in a contexture of filaments, takes her ftation in the 
 middle, and plunges to the bottom of the brook, where 
 the air bubble appears like a globule of quickfilver. 
 There, ilie expatiates under the fliade of the nymphaea, 
 exempted from the dread of every foe. If, in this fpecies, 
 two individuals, different in fex, happen to meet,. and to 
 fuit each other, the two globules, being in a ffate of ap- 
 proximation, become united into one, and the two infefts 
 are in the fame atmofphere. The Romans, who conftruft- 
 ed on the (hores of Baias, faloons underneath the waves of 
 the Sea, in order to enjoy the coolnefs, and the murmur- 
 in;T noife of the waters, during the heats of Summer, were 
 lefs dexterous, and lefs voluptuous. If a man united in 
 himfclf thofe m.arvellous faculties which are the portion 
 of infects, he would pafs for a god with his fellow crea- 
 tures. 
 
 It is of importance for us to be acquainted with, at leaft, 
 fuch infers as deflroy thofe which are offenfive to Man. 
 We might turn their mutual hoflility to good account, 
 by converting it into the means of our own repofe. The 
 fpider catches the flies in nets ; the formicaleo furpnfes 
 the ants in a tunnel of fand ; the four, winged ichneumon 
 feizes the butterflies on the wing. There is another iclv, 
 neumon, fo fmall and fo cunning, that it lays an egg in thq 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. g^, 
 
 anus of the vine fretter. Man has it in his power to mul- 
 tiply at pleafure the families of infeds which are ufeful 
 to him ; and may find means of diminishing fuch as make 
 depredations on his agricultural poffefTions. The fmall 
 birds of our groves tender him, to the fame effea, fervices 
 of ftill greater extent, and accompanied with other cir- 
 cum fiances inexpreffibly agreeable. They are all direft- 
 ed by inftina to live in his vicinity, and about the paf- 
 tures and habitations of his flocks and herds. A fingle 
 fpecies of them might frequently be fufficient to proteft 
 the cattle from the infefts which infeft them through the 
 Summer. 
 
 There is in the North a gadfly, called Kourhma by the 
 Laplanders, and by the Learned, ajlrus rangiferinus, 
 which torments the domeftic reindeer to fuch a deo-ree as 
 to force them in agony to the mountains, and fometimes 
 aaually plague them to death, by depofiting their eggs in 
 the fkin of the animal. Many diflertations have, as the 
 cufl:om is, been compofed on this fubjea, but no remedy 
 for the evil has been propofed. I am convinced there 
 muft be birds in Lapland, which would deliver the rein- 
 deer from this formidable inlea, did not the Laplanders 
 terrify them away by the noife of their fowling pieces. 
 Thefe arms of civilized Nations have overfpread with bar- 
 barifm all our plains. The birds, deftined to embellifli 
 the habitation of Man, withdraw from it, or approach 
 with timidity and miftruft. The found of mufl^etry ought 
 to be prohibited, at leaft, around the haunts of the hann- 
 lefs cattle. When the birds are not feared away by the 
 fowler, they follow their inflinas. 
 
 I have frequently feen in the Ifle of France, a fpecies 
 of ftarling, called martin, imported thither from India, 
 perch familiarly on the back and horns of the oxen, to 
 pick them clean. To this bird that ifland ftands indebt- 
 ed, at the prefcnt day, for the deflruaion of the locufts, 
 which, in former times, committed fuch ravages upon it. 
 In thofe of our European rural fcenes which Hill exhibit. 
 
fe^* A VINDICATION OF 
 
 ©n the part of Man, fome degree of hofpitality toward tll« 
 innocent warblers, he has the pleafure of feeing the ftork 
 build her neft ©n the ridge of his houfe ; the fwallow flut- 
 ter about in his apartments : And the wagtail, along the 
 bank of the river, frifk around his fheep, to proteft them 
 from the gnats. 
 
 The foundation of all this variety of pleafant and ufe- 
 ful knowledge is laid in the fludy of plants. Each of 
 them is the focus of the life of animals, the fpecies of 
 which there colle6l in a point, as the rays of a circle at 
 their centre. 
 
 As foon as the Sun, arrived in his annual progrefTion, at 
 the fign of the Ram, has given the fignal of Spring to 
 our Hemifphcre, the rainy and warm wind of the South 
 takes its departure from Africa, fwells the Seas, elevates 
 the rivers above their banks, fo that they inundate the 
 adjacent plains, and fatten them with their fertilizing 
 flime ; and levels, in the forefts, the aged trees, the decay- 
 ed trunks, and every thing that prefents an obffacle to 
 future vegetation. It melts the fnows which cover our 
 fields, and forcing its way to the very Pole, it breaks to 
 pieces, and difTolves the enormous malTes of ice which 
 Winter had there accumulated. When this revolution, 
 known all over the Globe by the name of the equinoftial 
 gale, has taken place, in the month of March, the Sun 
 revolves night and day around our Pole, fo that there is 
 not a finglc point, in the whole northern Hemifphere, that 
 can efcapc his heat. 
 
 Every flep he advances in his courfc through the Heav- 
 ens, a new plant makes its appearance on the Earth. Each 
 of them arifes in fuccelFion, and occupies its proper fla- 
 tion at the hour affigned to it ; at one and the fame inftant 
 it receives the light in its flowers, and the dew of Heaven 
 on its foliage. In proportion to its progrefs in growth, 
 the difTcTcnt infeft tribes which thence derive their nour- 
 ifhment, likewife difplay their exiflence, and uniold their 
 «hara6^rs. At this epocha, too, each fpecies of bird re- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 273 
 
 forts to the fpecies of plant with which fhe is acquainted, 
 there to build her neft, and to feed her yeung with the 
 animal prey which it prefents to her, to fupply the want 
 of the feeds which it has not as yet produced. We pref- 
 ently behold the tribes of birds of pafTage flock thither, 
 in queft of the portion which Nature has provided for 
 them likewife. Firft comes the fwallow, to preferve our 
 habitations from the vermin, by planting her neft around 
 us. The quail forfakes Africa, and grazing the billows 
 of the Mediterranean, and in troops innumerable, is fcat- 
 tered over the boundlefs meadows of the Ukraine. The 
 heathcock purfues his courfe northw^ard as far as Lap- 
 land. The wild ducks and geefe, the filvery fwans, form- 
 ing long triangular fquadrons in the air, advance to the 
 very iflands adjacent to the Pole. The ftork, in former 
 times adored in Egypt, which fhe abandons, crofTes over 
 Europe, halting here and there to take repofe, even in 
 great cities, on the roofs of the houfes of hofpitable Ger- 
 many. All thefe birds feed their young on the infefts 
 and reptiles which the newly expanded plants have fofter- 
 ed into life. 
 
 Then, too, it is that the fiflies iffue in legions, from the 
 northern abyfTes of the Ocean, allured to the mouths of 
 rivers by clouds of infe61s, which are confined entirelv to 
 their waters, or expand into life along their banks. Thev 
 ftem the watery current in fhoals, and advance, fkipping 
 and fpringing, up to the very fources of the ftream ; oth- 
 ers, as the northcapers, fufFer themfelves to be fwept into 
 the general current of the Atlantic Ocean, and appear, in 
 form of a fhip's bottom, on the coafls of Brafil, and on 
 thofe of Guinea. 
 
 Quadrupeds themfelves, likewife, then undertake long 
 peregrinations. Some proceed from the South to the 
 North, with the Sun ; others from Eall to Weft. There 
 are fome which coaft along the rugged chains of moun- 
 tains ; others follow the courfes of rivers which have 
 never been navigated. Lengthened columns of black cat- 
 
 VOL. II, I. I 
 
274 . A VINDICATION of 
 
 tie pafture, in America, along the banks of the Mechaf- 
 fipi,* which they caufe to refound with their bellowing* 
 Numerous fquadrons of horfes traverfe the rivers and the 
 deferts of Tartary \ and wild fheep ftray bleating amidft 
 its vafl folitudes. Thefe flocks have neither overfeer nor 
 fhephcrd to guide them through the defert, to the mufic 
 of the pipe ; but the expanfion of herbage which they 
 know, determines the moment of their departure, and the 
 limits of their progrefs. It is then that each animal inhab* 
 its his natural fituation, and repofes under the fhade of the 
 vegetable of his fathers. It is then that the chains of har- 
 mony exert all their force, and that all, being animated by 
 confonances, or by contrails, the air, the waters, the for- 
 efts, and the rocks, feem to be vocal, to be impaflioned, 
 to be tranfported with delight. 
 
 But this vaft concert can be comprehended by celeftial 
 Intelligences only. To Man it is fufficient, in order to 
 ftudy Nature with advantage, that he limit his refearches 
 to the ftudy of one fingle vegetable. It would be necef- 
 fary, for this purpofe, to make choice of an aged tree, in 
 Ibme folitary fituation. From the charafters which have 
 been indicated, a judgment might eafily be formed, whether 
 it be in its natural pofition ; but ftill better from its beau- 
 ty, and from the acccffories which Nature uniformly pla- 
 ces in connexion with it, where the hand of Man has not 
 interpofed to derange the operations. The fludent 
 would firfl obfcrve its elementary relations, and the ftrik- 
 ing characters which diflinguifh the different fpecies of 
 the fame genus, fome of which grow at the fources of riv- 
 ers, and others at the place of their difcharge into the O- 
 cean. He would afterwards examine its convolvulufes, 
 its moffes, its miftletoes, its fcolopendrae, the mufhrooms 
 of its roots, nay, the very grafles which grow under its 
 ithddc. He would perceive, in each of its vegetables, new 
 
 * Mlflirjppi, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^j,^ 
 
 elementary relations, adapted to the places which they oc- 
 cupy, and to the tree which fuflains, or fhelters them. 
 
 His attention might next be direftcd to the various fpe- 
 cies of animals which refort to it as a habitation, and he 
 would prefently be convinced, that, from the fnail up to 
 the fquirrel, there is not a fmgle one, but what has deter- 
 minate and charafteriflic relations to the dependencies ©f 
 its vegetation. 
 
 If the tree In queftlon were growing in a foreft, itfelf 
 too of confiderable antiquity, it would, moft probably, 
 have, in its vicinity, the tree which Nature defigned 
 Ihould contrail with it in the fame fite, as, for example, 
 the birch with the fir. It is farther probable, that the ac- 
 ceflbry vegetables and animals of this laft, would, in like 
 manner, form a contrail with thofe of the firft. Thefe 
 two fpheres of obfervation would mutually illuminate 
 €ach other, and would difFufe the cleareft light over the 
 manners of the animals which frequent them. We fhould 
 then have a complete chapter of that immenfe and fublime 
 Hiflory of Nature, the alphabet of which is hitherto un- 
 known to us. 
 
 I am fully convinced, that without fatigue, and almoft 
 without any trouble, difcoveries the moft curious mio-ht 
 be made ; were we to reftrift our enquiries but to one 
 fmgle compartiment, we fhould difcover a multitude of 
 the moft enchanting harmonies. In order to enjoy fome 
 imperfeft fketches of this kind, we muft have recourfe to 
 travellers. Our Ornithologifts, fettered by methods and 
 fyftem, only think of fwelling their catalogue, and diftin- 
 guifh nothing in birds fave the feet and the bill. It is not 
 in the nefts that they obferve them, but in hunting, and 
 in their pouch. They even confider the colours of their 
 plumage as accidents. It was not by chance, however, 
 that Nature, on the fliores of Brafil, beftowed a beauti- 
 ful carnation colour, with a border of black, on the ex- 
 tremity of the wings of the Ouara, a fpecies of curlew, 
 which inhabits the fea green foliage of the paktwicr^ 
 
%ye A VINDICATION OF 
 
 which grows in the bofom of the waves, and bears no ap- 
 parent flowers. The favia, another bird of the fame cli- 
 mate, is yellow over the belly, with the reft of the plum- 
 age gray. It is about the fize of a fparrow, and perches 
 on the pepper plant, the flowers of which have no luftre, 
 but whofe grains are eaten by this bird, and refown wher- 
 ever Ihe takes her flight. 
 
 To thofe correfpondencies muft be joined fuch as per- 
 tain to fite, which itfelf derives fo much beauty from the 
 overfhadowing vegetable. Thefe harmonies are detailed 
 by Fatl^ier Francis d' Abbeville. If credit is to be given 
 to the Hiftory of voyages by the Abbe Prevojl, there is, 
 on the banks of the Senegal, a fluviatic tree, the leaves of 
 which arc thorny, and the branches pendant, in form of an 
 arch. It ferves as a habitation to birds called kurbalos, 
 or fifliers, of the fize of a fparrow, varioufly coloured. 
 Their bill is very long, and armed with little teeth, re- 
 femblincr a faw. They build a neft of the bulk of a pear, 
 compofed of earth, feathers, ftraw, mofs, and attach it to 
 a long thread, fufpended from the extremity of the branch- 
 es which projeft over the river, in order to fecure it from 
 the ferpents and monkeys, which fometimes contrive to 
 clamber up after them. You would take thofe nefts, at a 
 little diftance, for the fruit of the tree : And fome of thofe 
 trees contain to the number of a thoufand. You perceive 
 the kurbalos fluttering incelTantly along the water, and 
 entering into their nefts with a motion that dazzles the 
 eyes. 
 
 According to Father Charlevoix, there grows in Virgin- 
 ia, on the brink of the lakes, a laurel leafed yew tree^ 
 which pufhes feveral ftems from its root, the branches of 
 which embrace all the furrounding trees, and climb to the 
 licight of more than fixteen feet. They form, in Summer, 
 an impenetrable fliade, and in Winter a temperate retreat 
 for the birds. Its flowers have no very ftriking appear- 
 ance, and its fruit grows in round clufters, loaded with 
 ^lack grains. This yew has for its principal inhabitant,, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 277 
 
 a very beautiful kind of jay. The head of that bird is 
 adorned with a long black creft, which it can eretl at 
 pleafure. Its back is of a deep purple. The wings are 
 black on the infide, blue externally, and white at the ex- 
 tremities, with white llripes acrofs every feather. Its tail 
 is blue, and marked with the fame llripes as the wings ; 
 and its cry is far from being difagreeable. 
 
 There are birds which lodge not upon their favourite 
 plant, but oppofite to it. Such is the colibri, which fre- 
 quently nellies, in the Antilles Iflands, on the flraw which 
 thatches a cottage, in order to live under the proteftion of 
 Man. In our climates, the nightingale conflrufts his nelt 
 under covert of a bufh, choofing, in preference, fuch fit- 
 uations as repeat an echo, and carefully obferving to ex- 
 pofe it to the morning fun. Having employed fuch pre- 
 cautions, he takes his ftation in the vicinity, againft the 
 trunk of a tree ; and there, confounded with the colour 
 of its bark, and motionlefs, he becomes invifible. But 
 he prefently animates the obfcure retreat whic^ he has 
 chofen, by the divine melody of his fong, and effaces all 
 the brilliancy of plumage, by the charms of his mulic. 
 
 But whatever enchantment may be difFufed by plants 
 and animals over the fituations which have been affigned 
 to them by Nature, I never can confider a landfcape as 
 poffefTing all its beauty, unlefs I perceive in it, at leaft, 
 one little hut. The habitation of Man confers, on every 
 fpecies of vegetable, anew degree of intereft or of maj- 
 eft}^ Nothing more is necelTary, in many cafes, than a 
 tree, in order to ch^rafterize, in a country, the wants of a 
 whole Nation, and the care of Providence. I love to fee 
 the family of an Arab under the date tree of the defert, and 
 the boat of an iflanderof the Maldivias loaded with cocoa 
 nuts, under the cocoa trees of their gravelly flrands. The 
 hovel of a poor uninduflrious Negro gives me pleafure, 
 under the fhade of a great gourd plant, which exhibits his 
 complete fet of houfehoid furniture. Our magnificent 
 hotels, in great cities, arq the habitations of tradefmen 
 
27$ A VINDICATION of 
 
 merely : In the country, they are transformed into caftles, 
 palaces, temples. The long avenues which announce 
 them confound themfelves with thofe which form the 
 communication of empires. This is not, in truth, what I 
 confider as moll interefting in rural fcenery. To the moft 
 oflentatious exhibition of fplendor, I have frequently pre- 
 ferred the view of a little hamlet of filhermen, built by 
 the fide of a river. With inexpreffible delight have I 
 fometimes repofed, under the fhade of the willows, and of 
 the poplars, on which were fufpended the bow nets, com- 
 pofed of their own branches. 
 
 1 ihall now proceed, in my ufual fuperficial manner, 
 to take a rapid glance of the harmonies of plants with 
 Man ; and, in order to introduce, at leaft, fomething of 
 order into a fubje6l fo rich in matter, I fliall farther di- 
 vide thofe harmonies, relatively to Man himfelf, into ek~ 
 meiitary, into vegetable^ into am?nal and into kumafiy prop* 
 crly fo called, or alimentary. 
 
 HUMAN HARMONIES OF PLANTS. 
 
 ^.lemcntary Harinonies of Plants relatively to Man, 
 
 If we confider the vegetable Order under the fimple 
 relations of flrength and magnitude, we fhall find it di- 
 vided, with a fulhcicnt degree of generality, into three 
 great claffcs, namely, into herbs, into flirubs and into 
 trees. It is to be remarked, in the firft place, that herbs 
 are of a fubllance pliant and foft. Had they been ligne- 
 ous and hard, like the young boughs of trees, to which it 
 might appear they ought naturally to have a refemblance, 
 as they grow on the fame foil ; the greateft part of the 
 Earth M-ouitl have been inaccsflibic to the foot of Ma,n,, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 279 
 
 till the fire, or the hatchet, had cleared the way for him. 
 It was not by chance, therefore, that fo many graffes, 
 moffes and herbs, afTumed a foft and yielding texture, nor 
 from want of nourifhment, nor of the means of expan- 
 fion ; for fome of thofe herbs rife to a very great height, 
 fuch as the banana ot India, and feveral ferulaceous plants 
 of our own climates, which attain the ftature of a little 
 tree. 
 
 On the other hand, there are ligneous Ihrubs, which do 
 not exceed the generality of herbs in height; but they 
 grow, for the moll part, on rugged and fleep places, af- 
 fording to Man the means of clambering up with facility, 
 for they fhoot out of the very clefts of the rocks. But 
 as there are rocks which have no clefts, and which pre- 
 fent the perpendicularity of a wall, there are likewife 
 creeping plants which take root at their bafes, and which, 
 fixing themfelves to their fides, rife in clofe cohefion to 
 a height furpafling that of many of the tallefl trees : Such 
 are the ivy, the virgin vine, and a great number of the 
 lianne tribe, which mantle along the rocks of fouthern re- 
 gions. 
 
 Were the Earth covered with vegetables of this fort, 
 it would be impoflible to walk over it. It is very remark- 
 able, that when uninhabited iflands were difcovered, fome 
 were found clothed with forells, as the Ifland of Madeira; 
 others in which there was nothing but herbage and rufties, 
 as the Malouine Iflands, at the entrance of Magellan's 
 Strait ; others carpeted with moffes fimply, fuch as fev- 
 eral little ifles on the coaft of Spitzbergen ; others, in 
 great number, on which thefe feveral vegetables were 
 blended ; but I do not know of a fmgle one which was 
 found to contain only flirubbery and liannes. Nature has 
 placed this clafs only on places not eafily to be fcaled, in 
 order to facilitate accefs to Man. It may be affirmed, 
 that no precipice prefents a furface fo perpendicular as 
 to be infurmountable, with their affiftance. Thus aided, 
 
fita A VINDICATION OF 
 
 the ancient Gauls were on the point of florming tli^ 
 capitol. 
 
 As to trees, though tliey are replenifhed with a vegeta- 
 tive force, which elevates them to a very confiderable 
 height, the greater part of them do not fend out their firft 
 branches but at a certain diftance from the ground. So 
 that though they form, when they have attained a certain 
 degree of elevation, an intertexture impenetrable to the 
 Sun, which they extend to a great diftance around, they 
 leave, however, about their roots, avenues fufficient to 
 render them accefhble, fo that the forefts may be traverf- 
 cd with cafe and expedition. 
 
 Such, then, are the general difpofitions of vegetables 
 upon the Earth, relatively to the occafion which Man had 
 to range over it. The herbage ferves as a carpet to his 
 feet ; the fhrubbery as a fcaling ladder to his hands ; and 
 the trees are as fo many parafols over his head. Nature, 
 after having eftabliflied thofe proportions between them, 
 has diftributed them in all the varieties of fituation, by 
 beftowing on them, abftraftedly from their particular re- 
 lations to the elements, and to the animal creation, quali- 
 ties the beft adapted to minifter to the neceftities of Man, 
 and to compcnfate, in his favour, the inconveniences of 
 climate. 
 
 Though this manner of ftudying her Works be now 
 held in contempt by moft Naturalifts, to it, however, 
 fliall our reCearchcs be limited. We have juft been con- 
 fidcring plants according to their fhape and fizc, after the 
 manner oi gardeners ; we proceed farther to examine them 
 as is done by the wood feller, the huntfman, the carpen- 
 ter, the fiflicrman, the fiieplierd, the failor, nay, the nofe- 
 gay maker. It is of fmall importance whether we are 
 learned, provided we ceafe not to be men. 
 
 It is in the countries of the North, and on ihc fummit 
 of cold mountains, that the pine grows, and the fir, and 
 the cedar, and moft part of r'-'finous trees, which fhelter 
 man from the fnows by ihc clofencfs of their foliage, and 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 281 
 
 vrhich furnlfh him, during the Winter feafon, with torches 
 and fuel for his fire fide. It is very remarkable, that the 
 leaves of thofe evergreen trees are filiform, and extremely 
 adapted, by this configuration, which poffeffes the farther 
 advantage of reverberating the heat, like the hair of ani- 
 mals, for refinance to the impetuofity of the winds, that 
 beat with peculiar violence on elevated fituations. The 
 Swedifli Naturalifls have obferved, that the fatteft pines 
 are to be found on the dryeft and moll fandy regions of 
 Norway. The larch, which takes equal pleafure in the 
 cold mountains, has a very refinous trunk. 
 
 Mathiola, in his ufeful commentary on Diofcorides, in- 
 forms us, that there is no fubftance more proper than the 
 charcoal of thefe trees, for promptly melting the iron min~ 
 erals, in the vicinity of which they peculiarly thrive. 
 They are, befides, loaded with moffes fome fpecies of 
 which catch fire from the llighteft fpark. He relates, 
 that being obliged, on a certain occafion, to pafs the night 
 in the lofty mountains of the Strait of Trento, where he 
 was botanizing, he found there a great quantity of larches 
 [larixj bearded all over, to ufe his own expreflion, and 
 completely whitened with mofs. The ftiepherds of the 
 place, willing to amufe him, fet fire to the moffes of fome 
 of thofe trees, which was immediately communicated with 
 the rapidity of gunpowder touched with the match. A- 
 midft the obfcurity of the night, the flame and the fparks 
 feemed to afcend up to the very Heavens. They difFufed, 
 as they burnt, a very agreeable perfume. He farther re- 
 marks, that the befl agaricum grows upon the larch, and 
 that the arquebufiers of his time made ufe of it for keep- 
 ing up fire, and for making matches. Thus Nature, in 
 crowning the fummit of cold and ferruginous mountains 
 with thofe vaft vegetable torches has placed the match in 
 their branches, the tinder at their foot, and the fteel at 
 their roots. 
 
 To the South, on the contrary, trees prefent, in their 
 foliage, fans, umbrellas, parafols. The latanier carries 
 
 VOL. II. M ni 
 
2^^ A VLXDICATION of 
 
 each of its leaves plaited as a fan, attached to a long tarJ, 
 and fimilar, wlien completely difplayed, to a radiating Sun 
 of verdure. Two of thofe trees are to be feen in the 
 Royal Garden. The leaf of the banana refembles a long 
 and broad girdle, which, undoubtedly, procured for it the 
 name of Adam's fig tree. The magnitude of the leaves of 
 feveral fpecies of trees incrcafes in proportion as we ap- 
 proach the Line. That of the cocoa tree, with double 
 fruit, of the Scchelles Iflands, is from twelve to fifteen 
 feet long, and from feven to eight broad. A fingle one is 
 fufficient to cover a numerous family. One of thofe 
 leaves is, likewife, to be feen in the Royal Cabinet of 
 Natural Hiflory. That of tke talipot of the Ifland of Cey- 
 lon is of nearly the fame fize. 
 
 The interefling and unfortunate Robert Knox^ who has 
 given the bed account of Ceylon which I am acquainted 
 with, tells us, that one of the leaves of the talipot is ca- 
 pable of covering from fifteen to twenty perfons. When 
 it is dry, continues he, it is at once ftrong and pliant, fo 
 that you may fold and unfold it at pleafure, being natural- 
 ly plaited like a fan. In this ftate it is not bigger than a 
 man's arm, and extremely light. The natives cut it into 
 triangles, though it is naturally round, and each of them 
 carries one of thofe fc8ions over his head, holding the an- 
 gular part before, in his hand, to open for himfelf a paf- 
 fage through the bufhes. The foldiers employ this leaf as 
 a covering to their tents. He confiders it, and with good 
 reafon, as one of the greateft blefTings of Providence, in a 
 country burnt up by the Sun, and inundated by the rains, 
 for fix months of the year. 
 
 Nature has provided, in thofe elimates, parafols for 
 whole villages : for the fig tree, denominated, in India» 
 the fig tree of the Banians, a drawing of which may be 
 feen in Taufrmcr^ and in feveral other travellers, grows 
 on the very burning fand of the fea fliore, throwing, 
 from the extremity of its branches, a multitude of flioots, 
 which drop to the ground, there take root, and form, a- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ,a^3 
 
 lound the principal trunk, a great number of covered ar- 
 cades, whofe fhade is impervious to the rays of the Sun. 
 
 In our temperate climates, we experience a fimilar be- 
 nevolence on the part of Nature. In the warm and thirf- 
 ty feafon, fhe beftows upon us a variety of fruits, replen- 
 ifhed with the moil refrefhing juices, fuch as cherries, 
 peaches, melons ; and, as Winter approaches, thofe which 
 -w^arm and comfort by their oils, fuch as the almond and 
 the walnut. Certain Naturalifls have confidered even the 
 ligneous fhells of thefe fruits, as a prefervative againft the 
 cold of the gloomy feafon ; but thefe are, as we have feen, 
 the means of floating and of navigating. Nature employs 
 others, with which we are not acquainted, for preferving 
 the fubflances of fruits, from the impreflions of the air. 
 For example, (he preferves, through the whole Winter, 
 many fpecies of apples and pears, which have no other 
 covering than a pellicle fo very thin, that it is impoflible 
 to determine how fine it is. 
 
 Nature has placed other vegetables in humid and in dry 
 fituations, the qualities of w^hich are inexplicable on the 
 principles of our Phyfics, but which admirably harmo- 
 nize with the neceffities of the men who inhabit thofe 
 places. Along the water iide grow the plants and the 
 trees which are the dryeft, the lighteft, and, confequently, 
 the beft adapted to the purpofe of eroding the flream. 
 Such are reeds, which are hollow, and ruflies, which are 
 filled with an inflammable marrow. It requires but a 
 very moderate bunxlle of ruflies to bear the weight of a 
 very heavy man upon the water. On the banks of the 
 lakes of the North are produced thofe enormous birch 
 trees, the bark of a fingle one of which is fufficient to 
 form a large canoe. This bark is fimilar to leather in 
 pliancy, and fo incorruptible by humidity, that, in RufTia, 
 1 have feen feme of it extrafted from under the earth 
 which covered powder magazines, perfeftly found, though 
 it had lain there from the time of Pettr the Great, 
 
2^4 A VINDICATION of 
 
 If we may depend on the teftimony of Pliny and of 
 Plutarch, there were found at Rome, four hundred years 
 after the death of Nmna, the books which that great King 
 had commanded to be depofited with his body in the tomb. 
 The body was entirely confumed ; but the books, which 
 treated of Philofophy and Religion, were in fuch a ftate 
 of prefervation, that Petilius, the Pretor, undertook to 
 read them, by command of the Senate. On the report 
 which he made refpefting their contents, they were order- 
 ed to be burnt. They were written on the bark of the 
 birch tree. This bark confifts of an accumulation often 
 or twelve flieets, white and thin, like paper, the place of 
 which it fupplied to the ancients. 
 
 Nature prefents to Man different traje6liles on differ- 
 ent fhores. She has planted, on the banks of the riv- 
 ers of India, the bamboo, an enormous reed, which. rifes 
 there fometimes to the height of fixty feet, and fwells to 
 the fizeofa man's thigh. The part comprehended be- 
 tween two of its joints is fufficient to bear a man up on 
 the water. The Indian places himfelf upon it a ftraddle, 
 and fo crojfTes a river, fwimming along by the motion of 
 his feet. The Dutch Navigator, John Hugo de Linfchot^ 
 ten, an author of reputation, affures us that the crocodile 
 never touches perfons who are paffing rivers in this man- 
 ner, though he frequently attacks canoes, and even the 
 boats of Europeans. Linfchoiten afcribes the abftinence 
 of this voracious animal to an antipathy which he has to 
 that fpecies of reed. 
 
 Francis Pyrard, another traveller, who has obferved 
 Natm-e with a careful eye, informs us, that there grows, 
 on the fhores of the Maldivia Iflands, a tree called candou^ 
 the wood of which is fo light, that it ferves as cork for 
 the fifhermcn.* I think I was once poffeffed of a log of 
 wood of that fpecies. It was ftripped of the bark, per- 
 feftly white, of the thickncfs of my arm, about fix feet 
 
 • See P)rard'$ Voyage to the Maldivia Ifljads, pagr 38. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^85 
 
 long, and fo light, that I could eafily lift it by my finger 
 and thumb. In thefe fameiflands, and on the fame flrands, 
 rifes the cocoa tree, which there attains a higher degree 
 of beauty than any where elfe in the World. Thus, the 
 tree of all others moil ufeful to mariners, grows on the 
 fliores of the Seas moft frequented by men of that defcrip- 
 tion. All the world knows that the veirel is there con- 
 ftrufted of its timber, that its leaves are formed into fails, 
 that the trunk ferves for a maft, that the hempen fubflance 
 called caira^ which furrounds its fruit, is wro'hight into 
 cordage, and when the whole ts ready for fea, a cargo of 
 cocoa nuts is the lading. It is farther remarkable, that 
 the cocoa nut, before it comes to perfe61: mdturity, con- 
 tains a liquor which is an excellent antifcorbutic. 
 
 Is it not, then, a miracle of Nature, that this fruit, re- 
 pleniflied with fucli milk, fliould come to perfeclion on 
 the barren flrand, and within the wafhirig of the briny 
 Deep ? Nay, it is only on the brink of the Sea, that the 
 tree which bears it arrives at its highefl beauty ; for few 
 are to be feen in the interior of countries. 
 
 Nature has placed a palm tree of the fame famiily, but 
 of a different fpecies, on the fummit of the mountains of 
 the fame climates : It is the palmift. The ftem of this 
 tree is fometimes above a hundred feet high, is pcrfeclly 
 flraight, and bears on its fummit, all the foliage which it 
 has, a bunch of palms, from the midft of which ilfues a 
 long roll of plaited leaves, refembling the ftaff of a lance. 
 This roil contains, in a fort of coriaceous fheath, leaves 
 ready to fhoot, which are very good eating before their 
 expanfion. The trunk of the palmift is woody only at 
 the circumference, and it is fohard as to refill the edge of 
 the beft tempered hatchet. It m.ay be cleft, with the irt- 
 moft cafe, from end to end, and is filled, inwardly, with a 
 fpongy fubflance, which may be eafily feparated. Thus 
 prepared, it ferves to form, for conducing waters, fre- 
 quently diverted from their courfe by the rocks which are 
 at the fummit of mountains, tubes which are not corrupt- 
 
286 A VINDICATION of 
 
 ible by humidity. Thus the palm tree gives to the in- 
 habitants ot thofe regions the means of conftrufting aque- 
 du6h at the fource of rivers, and fhips at tlie place of 
 their difcharge. 
 
 Other fpecies of trees render them the fame fervices, 
 in other fituations. On the fliores of the Antilles Iflands 
 grows the acajou, there called, but improperly, the cedar, 
 on account of its incorruptibility. It arrives at fuch a 
 prodigious fize, that out of one log of it they make a boat 
 capable of carrying fo many as forty men.* This tree 
 pofTcfTes another quality, which, in the judgment of the 
 beft obfervcrs, ought to render it invaluable for the ma- 
 rine fervice; namely this, that it is the only one, of thofe 
 ihr '^s, which is never attacked by the fea worm, an in- 
 fetl io ^"rmidable to every other fpecies of timber which 
 floats v\ .hofe feas, that it devours whole fquadrons in a 
 very little time, and, in order to preferve them, lays us 
 under the neceffity, thefe many years pall, of fheathing 
 their bottoms with copper. But this beautiful tree has 
 found enemies more dreadful than the worm, in the Eu- 
 ropean inhabitants of thofe Iflands, who have almoft ex- 
 tirpated the whole race of them. 
 
 The manner in which Providence has contrived a fup- 
 ply for the thirft of Man, in fultry places, is no lefs w^or- 
 thy of admiration. Nature has placed, amidfl the burn- 
 incT fands of Africa, a plant whofe leaf, twilled round like 
 a cruet, is always filled with a large glafs full of freflr wa- 
 ter; the gullet of this cruet is fhut by the extremity of 
 the leaf itfelf, fo as to prevent the water from evaporat- 
 ing. She has planted on fome parched dillrifts of the 
 fame country, a great tree, called by the Negroes Boa, 
 the trunk of which, of a prodigious bulk, is naturally 
 hollowed like a ciftern. In the rainy feafon it receives 
 its fill of water, which continues frelh and cool, in the 
 grcatefl: heats, by means of the tufted foliage which crov;ns 
 
 * Conluk Fathers Laht and Du Tcrtre. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 287 
 
 its fummit. Finally, fhe has placed vegetable fountains 
 on the parched rocks of the Antilles. There is common- 
 ly found there a lianne, called the water lianne, fo full of 
 fap, that if you cut a fingle branch of it, as much water 
 is immediately difcharged as a man can drink at a draught : 
 It is perfectly pure and limpid. 
 
 In the fwamps of the Bay of Campeachy, travellers 
 find relief of another kind. Thofe fwamps, on a level 
 with the Sea, are almoft entirely inundated in the rainy 
 feafon, and became fo parched on the return of dry weath- 
 er, that many huntfmen who had happened to mifs their 
 way in the forefts, with which they are covered, aftually 
 perifhed with thirft. The celebrated traveller Dampier 
 relates, that he feveral times efcaped this calamity, by 
 means of a very extraordinary fpecies of vegetation, which 
 had been pointed out to him on the trunk of a kind of 
 pine very common there; it refembles a packet of leaves, 
 piled one over another in tiers ; and on account of its 
 form, and of the tree on which it grows, he calls it the 
 pine apple. This apple is full of water, fo that on pierc- 
 ing it at the bafis with a knife, there immediately flows 
 from it a good pint of very clear and wholefome water. 
 Father da Terire informs us, that he has feveral times 
 found a fimilar refrefhment in the leaves, rounded like a 
 cornet, of a fpecies of balizier, which grows on the fan- 
 dy plains of Guadaloupe. I have been alfured by many 
 of our fportfmen, that nothing was more proper for the 
 quenching of thirft than the leaves ot the miftletoe, which 
 grows on many trees. 
 
 Such are, in part, the precautions employed by Provi- 
 dence for compenfating, in favour of Man, the inconve- 
 niencies of every climate; by oppofing to the qualities 
 of the elements, contrary qualities in vegetables. I fhall 
 purfue them no farther, for I believe the fubje£l to be in- 
 exhauftible. I am perfuaded, that every Latitude, and 
 evcf)^ feafon, has its own, which are ap-propriated to it. 
 
288 A VINDICATION of 
 
 and that every parallel varies them in every degree of 
 Longitude. 
 
 Vegetable Harmonies oj Plants with Man. 
 
 V/ere we now to examine the vegetable relations of 
 plants to Man, we Ihould find them to be infinite in num- 
 ber ; they are the perpetual fources of our arts, of our man- 
 ufa61ures, of our commerce, and of our enjoyments ; but, in 
 our ufual way, we fhall juft run over a few of their nat- 
 ural and direft relations, with which Man has interming- 
 led nothing ot his own. 
 
 To begin with their perfumes, Man appears to me the 
 only being, endowed with fenfibility, who is afFecled by 
 thefe. Animals, it is granted, and efpeciaily bees and 
 butterflies, have certain plants proper to themfelves, which 
 attraft or repel them by their emanations ; but thefe affec- 
 tions fecm to be connefted with their necefTities. Man 
 alone is fenfible to the perfume and luflre of flowers, in- 
 dependently of all animal appetite. The dog himfelf, 
 who, from his domeflic habits, afTumes fo powerful a 
 tinfture of the manners and of the taifes of Man, appears 
 totally infenfible to that enjoyment. The impreflTion 
 which flowers make upon us, fecms conneftcd with fome 
 moral aflcftion ; for there arc fome which enliven v.s^ 
 whereas others dlfpofe us to melancholy, without our be- 
 ing able to afhgn any other reafons for it than thofe 
 which I have endeavoured to unfold, in examining fome 
 general Laws of Nature. 
 
 Inftead of diflinguifhing them as yellow, red, blue, vi- 
 olet, wc might divide them into gay, into ferious, into 
 melancholy : Their charafter is fo expreffive, that lov- 
 ers, in the Eafl, employ their fhades, to defcribe the dif- 
 ferent degrees of their pafTion. Nature makes frequent 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 289 
 
 ufe of it, relatively to us, with the fame intention. When 
 (he wants to keep us at a diftance from a marlhy and un- 
 wholefome place, fhe fcatters there poifonous plants, which 
 prefent dingy colours, and offenfive fmells. There is a 
 fpecies of arum, which grows in the moraffes of Magel- 
 lan's Strait, whofe flower exhibits the appearance of an 
 ulcer, and exhales an odour fo ftrong of putrid flefti, that 
 the flefh fly reforts to it to depofit her eggs. 
 
 But the number of fetid plants is of no great extent. 
 The Earth is clothed with flowers which, for the moft 
 part, have very pleafmg hues and perfumes. I wifh time 
 would permit me to fay fomething of the Ample aggrega- 
 tion of flowers. This fubje6l is fo vafl:, and fo rich, that 
 I hefitate not to affirm, that it prefents ample employment 
 for the mod famous Botanift in Europe, through his whole 
 life, by difcovering to him every day fome new beauty, 
 and that without removing above a league from his own 
 habitation. All the art with which jewellers difpofe their 
 gems difappears before that which Nature difplays in the 
 aflbrtment of flowers. 
 
 1 fliewed J.J. Roujfeaii the flowers of different trefoils, 
 which I had picked up, as I was walking with him : Some 
 of them were difpofed in crowns, in half crowns, in ears, 
 in flieaves, with colours endlefsly varied. While they 
 were yet on their fl:ems, they had befides other aggrega- 
 tions, with the plants which were frequently ©ppofed to 
 them, in colours and in forms. I afked him, whether Bot- 
 anifts gave themfelves any trouble about thofe harmonies : 
 He told me no ; but that he had advifed a young Painter, 
 of Lyons, to learn Botany, with a particular view to fl:udy 
 in it the forms and the aflemblages of flowers ; and that he 
 had thus become one of the moll; celebrated pattern draw- 
 ers in Europe. On this fubjeft, I quoted to him a paflage 
 from Pliny^ wnth which he was highly delighted : It re- 
 lates to a Painter of Sicyon, named Paiijias, who learned, 
 by means of this ftudv, to paint flowers at leafl; as well as 
 he of Lyons knew how to draw th^m : He had, in truth, 
 
 VOL. II. N n 
 
2^o A VINDICATION o? 
 
 a mafler as fkilful as Nature herfelf, or rather one and the 
 fame with her, namely, Love. 
 
 I fliall give this flory in the fimplicity of ftyle of the 
 old Tranflator of Pliny, in order to preferve all its vivac- 
 ity.* " In his youth he hecame enamoured of a nofegay 
 *' girl, of the fame city with himfelf ; her name was Gly- 
 *' ccra ; fhe was very pretty, and had a fmgularly elegant 
 *' tafle in afforting, a tlioufand different ways, the flowers 
 *' of nofegays and chaplets ; fo that Paufias, copying af- 
 " ter Nature the chaplets and nofegays of his miftrefs> 
 *' rendered himfelf, at length, perfeft in that art. Laft o£ 
 *^ all, he painted her feated, in the a£iion of compofing a 
 " chaplct of flowers ; and this pifture is confidered as his 
 *' great maflerpiece : He called it Stephano Plocos^ the 
 " garland weaver, becaufe Glycera had no other means of 
 *' relieving the prelfure of poverty, but making and fell- 
 " ing garlands and nofegays. And it is confidently af- 
 " firmed, that L. Lucullus gave to Dionyjius, of Athens, 
 " two talents, for a fimple copy of this pi61;ure." 
 
 This anecdote muft have been Angularly pleafing to 
 Pliny, for he has repeated it in another placet : *' Thofe 
 of Peloponefus," fays he, *' were the firft who regulated 
 the colours and the fmells of the flowers of which, 
 chaplets were compofed. It was, however, origin- 
 ally the invention of Paiifias, a Painter, and of a nofe- 
 gay girl, named Glycera, with whom he was violently 
 in love ; whence he was engaged to imitate to the life 
 the chaplets and nofegays which flie compofed. But 
 the girl varied in fo many ways the arrangement of 
 the'flowers of her chaplets, in order to teaze and employ 
 her lover, that it afforded very high amufement to be- 
 hold the ikill ef the Painter Paufias, and the natural 
 produ6iion of Glycera, ft riving for the fuperiority. 
 Ancient Nature is ftill better acquainted with the fub- 
 jccl, than is the young Glycera. As it is impofliblc to 
 
 * P//nv's Natural Hiflory, book xxxv. chap. ii. 
 t Idem, book xxi. chap, ii. 
 
 i 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 291 
 
 follow her in her infinite variety, we fhall make, at leaft, 
 one obfervation refpefting her regularity. It is this, that 
 there is not any one odoriferous flower, but what grows at 
 the foot of Man, or at leaft within reach of his hand. All 
 thofe of thisdefcription are placed on herbage, or on fhrub- 
 bery, as the heliotrope, the pink, the gilliflower, the vio- 
 let, the rofe, the lilach. Nothing fimilar to thefe grows 
 on the lofty trees of our forefts ; and if fome flowers of 
 brilliant appearance are difplayed on certain tall trees ot 
 foreign countries, fuch as the tulip tree, and the great 
 cheflnut of India, they have no very pleafant fmell. Some 
 trees of India, it is admitted, as the fpice bearing plants, 
 are perfumed all over ; but their flowers are not very 
 Ihowy, and do not partake of the odour of their leaves. 
 The flowers of the cinnamon tree fmell like human ex- 
 crement : This I know to be true by experience ; if, how- 
 ever, the trees which were fliewed to me in the Ifle of 
 Trance, in a plantation belonging to Mr. Magon, were the 
 real cinnamon. The beautiful and fragrant flower of the 
 magnolia grows on the lower part of the plant. Befides, 
 the laurel which bears it is, as well as fpice trees, a plant 
 of no great elevation. 
 
 It is poflible I may be mifl:aken in fome of my obfer- 
 vations ; but fuppofmg them multiplied, with refpeft to 
 the fame objeQ, and attefted by perfons of veracity, and 
 exempted from the fpirit of fyftem, I am able to deduce 
 general confequences from them, which ought not to be a 
 matter of indifference to the happinefs of Mankind, by 
 demonfl:rating to him the invariable intentions of benevo- 
 lence in the Author of Nature. The varieties of their 
 adaptation refleft mutual light ; the means are different, 
 but the end is conftantly the fame. The fame goodnefs 
 which has placed the fruit defl:ined for the nourifliment of 
 Man, within reach of his hand, muft have likewife drfpof- 
 ed his nofegay with fimilar attention to his conveniency. 
 It may be here remarked, that our fruit trees are eafilv 
 fcaied.; and. different in this refpcft, from moft foreff tr-^:^e,'>. 
 
29« A VINDICATION of 
 
 Farther, all thofe which produce fruits that are foft, when 
 in a ftate of perfe£t maturity, and which would have been 
 liable to be bruifed in falling, fuch as the fig tree, the 
 mulberry, the plum, the peach, the apricot, prefent their 
 crop at a fmall diftance from the ground : Thofe, on the 
 contrary, which yield hard fruit, and fuch as. have nothing 
 to rifk from falling far, carry it aloft, as walnut trees, cheft- 
 nuts and cocoas. 
 
 There is no lefs marveloufnefs of adaptation in the forms 
 and fizes of fruits. Many of them are moulded for the 
 mouth of Man, fuch as cherries and plums ; others for 
 his hand, fuch as pears and apples ; others much larger, 
 fuch as melons, have the fubdivifions marked, and feem 
 deilined to be a focial family repaft : Nay, there are fome 
 in India, as the jacque, and with ourfelves the pumpion, 
 large enough to be divided among a neighbourhood. . Na- 
 ture appears to have obferved the fame proportions in the 
 various fizes of the fruits deftined to the nutriment of Man, 
 as in the magnitude of the leaves which are deligned to af- 
 ford him a fhade in hot countries ; for of thefe fome are 
 contrived to be a flielter for a fmgle perfon, others for a 
 whole family, and others for all the inhabitants of the 
 fame hamlet. 
 
 I (hall not dwell long on the other relations which 
 plants have with the habitation of Man, from their great- 
 nefs and their attitude, though many very curious obfer- 
 vations might be fuggefled on that fubjeft. There are 
 few of them but what are capable of embellifhinghis field, 
 his roof, or his wall. I fhall only remark, that the vicin- 
 ity of Man is beneficial to many plants. An anonymous 
 mifTionary relates, that it is firmly believed by the Indians, 
 that the cocoa trees which have houfes around their roots, 
 become much more beautiful than thofe where there are 
 none ; as if that ufeiul tree took delight in being near the 
 habitation of Man. 
 
 Another mifTionary, a bare footed Carmelite, called Fa- 
 ther Pkihppe, pofitively affcrts, that when the cocoa tree 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 
 
 '91 
 
 is planted clofe by houfes or huts, it is rendered more 
 fruitful by the fmoke, by the afhes, and other circumilan- 
 ces conne61ed with a human dwelling, fo as to produce 
 double the quantity of fruit. He adds, that, for this rea- 
 fon, the places in India which confift of palm plantations, 
 are crowded with houfes and little cabins ; and that the 
 proprietors of thofe plantations give, at firft, a pecuniary 
 premium, as an inducement to come and live there, to- 
 gether with part of the crop when it is reaped. He far- 
 ther adds, that though their fruits, which are very large 
 and hard, frequently fall down from the trees, when they 
 have attained a ftate of full maturity, either by the gnaw- 
 ing of the rats, or by the violence of the winds, there is 
 not a fingle inftance known of any perfon's being hurt by 
 the fall. This appears to me no lefs extraordinary than it 
 did to him.''^ 
 
 I might extend the influences of Man to feveral of our 
 fruit trees, efpecially the apple tree and the vine. I nev- 
 er faw finer apple trees in the Pais de Caux, than thofe 
 which grow around the habitations of the peafantry. It 
 is true that the attention of the proprietor may have great- 
 ly contributed to this. I have fometimes felt myfelf flop- 
 ped in the flreets of Paris, to contemplate with delight 
 fmall vines, the roots of which are in the fand, and under 
 the pavement, enriching with their cluliers the complete 
 front of a guard houfe. One of them, I think about fix 
 or feven years ago, produced two crops in one year, as 
 was announced in the public prints. 
 
 * See Voyage to the Eaft, of R. P. Philippi, a white frisr, Book 
 chap. 5. fedion 4. 
 
B94 A VINDICATION or 
 
 Animal Har??iomes of Plants with Man. 
 
 But Nature was not fatisfied with liaving given to Man 
 a bower, and a carpet, loaded with fruit ; this would not 
 have availed him, had (he not likewife furnifhed him, in 
 the vegetable order itfelf, the means of defence againft the 
 depredation:, of wild beafts. In vain would he have 
 watched over the prefervation of his property through the 
 day, had it been expofcd to pillage during the night. She 
 has beftowed a prickly fhrubbery to enclofe him round 
 and round. The farther we advance fouthward, we find 
 the greater variety in the fpecies of thefe. But, on the 
 contrary, we fee few, if any, of thofe thorny fhrubs in the 
 North, where they appear ufelefs ; there being no orchards 
 to defend. They feem to be produced, in both Indies, 
 for every kind of fituation. Though I have been only on 
 the felvage, as I may fay, of thofe countries, I have feen 
 there a great number of fuch fhrubs, the fludy of which 
 prefented a great variety of curious remarks to a Nature 
 alift. 
 
 Among others, I took particular notice of one, in a gar- 
 den on the Ifle of France, which to me appeared proper 
 for compofing a fence impenetrable to the fmallefl of 
 quadrupeds. It rifes in form of a ftake, about the thicknefs 
 of a man's arm, quite ftraight, without branches, and bear- 
 ing no verdure except a fmall bunch ot leaves on its fum- 
 mit. Its bark is brillled all over with very ftrong, and 
 very fharp prickles. It attains the height of feven or eight 
 feet, and grows as thick above as below. A feries of thefe 
 {•hrubs, planted clofe to each other, would form a real pal- 
 lifado, without the fmalleft interval. The opuntia aiKl 
 the taper, fo connnon under the Torrid Zone, are armed 
 with prickles fo keen, that th«y pierce the folcs of your. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 395 
 
 jQioes if you venture to walk over them. There is not a 
 tyger, or lion, or elephant, that dares to approach them. 
 There is another fpecies of thorn, in the Ifland of Ceylon, 
 which is employed as a defence againft Man himfeif, ac- 
 cuftomed as he is to force his way through every obflacle. 
 Robert Knox, whom I have before quoted, informs us, 
 that the avenues of the kingdom of Candy, in the Ifland 
 of Ceylon, are blockaded only with faggots of thofe thorns, 
 with which the inhabitants obftruft the pafles of their 
 mountains. 
 
 Man finds in vegetables, protection not only againft fe- 
 rocious animals, but againft reptiles and infefts. Father 
 du Tertre tells us, that he one day found, in the Ifland of 
 Gaudaloupe, at the foot of a tree, a creeping plant, the 
 ftem of which prefented the figure of a ferpent. But he 
 was much more furprifed on perceiving feven or eight 
 fnakes lying dead around it. He communicated this dif^ 
 covery to a medical man, who, by means of it, performed 
 many wenderful cures, by employing it in the cafes of 
 perfons bitten by thofe dangerous reptiles. It is general- 
 ly diffufed over the reft of the Antilles Iflands, in which 
 it is known by the name of fnake wood. It is likewife 
 found in the Eaftindies. John Hugo de Linj'chottai af- 
 cribes to it the fame figure, and the fame qualities. 
 
 We have, in our own clim.ates, vegetables which pre- 
 fent very ftrange correfpondencies and contrafts with rep- 
 tiles. Fliny tells us, that ferpents are very fond of the ju- 
 niper and the fennel, but that they are rarely found under 
 the fern, the trefoil, the afh weed, and the rue ; and that 
 betony kills them. Other plants, as has already been men- 
 tioned, deftroy flies, fuch as certain fpecies of the dionaea. 
 Tkevenot afTures us, that in the Indies, grooms defend their 
 horfes from the flies, by rubbing them every morning with 
 the flowers of the pumpion. The fleabane, which bears 
 black and Ihining grains, refembling a flea, clears the houfe 
 of that vermin, if Diofcorides is to be credited. The e- 
 chium, which has its feed formed like the head of a viper. 
 
2^6 A VINDICATION of 
 
 is fatal to thofe reptiles. It is probable, that, from fuch cori^ 
 figurations, men, in the earlier ages of the World, difcover- 
 ed the relations and the oppolitions between plants and 
 animals. I am difpofed to believe, that each genus of in- 
 feft has its deftruftive vegetable with which we are unac- 
 quainted. In general, all vermin (liuns perfume. 
 
 Nature has farther given us, in plants, the firft patterns 
 of nets for hunting and fifhing. There grows on certain 
 heaths in China, a fpecies of ratan, fo interwoven and fo 
 ftrong, as to catch and hold faft the flag, though in full 
 vigour. 1 myfclf have feen on the fands of the fea fhore 
 in the Ifle of France, a fpecies of lianne, called the falfe 
 potatoe, which covers whole acres, like a vaft fifliing net. 
 It is fo perfeftly adapted to this very purpofe, that the Ne- 
 groes aftually employ it in fi filing. They form, with the 
 items and foliage of it, a very long feries of cordages, 
 ■which they call into the fea ; and having difpofed them in 
 a chain encompaffing a great fpace on the water, they draw 
 it afliore by the two extremities. They fcarcely ever fail 
 to bring outfifli,* for the fiflies are terrified, not only by a 
 net which enclofes them, but by every unknown fubftance 
 which forms a fhade on the furface of the water. By em- 
 ploying an induftry equally fimple, and nearly fimilar, 
 the inhabitants ot the Maldivia Iflands carry on fifheries 
 to a prodigious extent, employing no other means to de- 
 coy the fifh into their receptacles, except a cord floating 
 on the water, with the help of ilicks. 
 
 Human, or tkmcntary Harmonies of Plants. 
 
 There is not a finglc plant on the face of the Earth, but 
 what has certain relations to the necefhties of Man, and 
 
 ♦ See Francis Pyrard'i Voyage to the Maldlvias. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. S97 
 
 which does not ferve, fomevvhere or another, for clothing 
 to him, for a fheker, for pleafure, for medicine, or, atleaft, 
 for fuel. Some, which with us are entirely ufelefs, are in 
 high eftimation in other parts of the World. The Eg)'p- 
 tians put up frequent and fervent prayers for a plentiful 
 crop of nettles, from the feeds of which they extraa an 
 oil, while the flem furnifhes them with a thread, which 
 they weave into excellent cloth. But thofe general rela- 
 tions, being innumerable, I fhall confine myfelf to a few 
 particular obfervations, refpeding the plants which mln- 
 ifter to the firft of human wants, I mean the food of Man, 
 We remark, firft, that corn, which ferves for the gen- 
 eral fubfiftence of the Human Race, is not produced by 
 Vegetables of a lofty ftature, but by fimple gralTes. The 
 principal fupport of human life is borne on'^herbage, and 
 is expofed to the mercy of every breath of wind. There 
 is reafon to believe, that had we ourfelves been intrufted 
 with the fafety of our crops, we would not have failed to 
 place them on great trees ; but in tliis, as well as in every 
 thing elfe, we are bound to admire Divine Providence, 
 and to miftruft our own wifdom. Had our harvefts been 
 the produce of the forefts, in the event of thefe being de- 
 ftroyed by war, or fet on fire through our own impru-^ 
 dence, or rooted up by the winds, or ravaged by inunda- 
 tions, whole ages would have been requifite to reproduce 
 them in a country. Farther, the fruits of trees are much 
 more liable to drop off, than the feeds of graffes. The 
 graffes, as has been already obferved, carry their flowers 
 in an ear, in many cafes furmounted by little beards, 
 which do not defend their feeds from the birds, as Cicerl 
 fays, but which ferve, as fo many little roofs, to fhelter 
 them from the water which falls from Heaven. The 
 drops of the rain cannot drown them, as they do flowers 
 radiated, in difks, in rofes and in umbels, the forms of 
 which, however are adapted to certain places and u> cer- 
 tain feafons ; but thofe of the graffes are adapted to everv 
 expofure. 
 
 VOL. II. O O 
 
2^8 A VINDICATION of 
 
 Wlien they are borne in flowing and drooping plumes^ 
 fucli as thofe of mail grafles of hot countries, they are 
 flieltered from the heat of the Sun; and when collefted 
 into an ear, as thofe of moft grafles of cold countries, they 
 refleft his rays on at leaft one fide. Farther, by the fup- 
 plencfs of their flems, ftrengthened by joints from dif- 
 tance to dillance, and by their filiform and capillaceous 
 leaves, they efcape the violence of the winds. Their weak- 
 nefs avails them more than flrength does the great trees. 
 Like fmall fortunes, they are refown and multiplied, 
 by the very fame tempelts w^hich lay waJle the vaft for- 
 efts. 
 
 They farther refift the effecl of exceffivedrynefs by the 
 length of their roots, which go, in quefl of moillure, a 
 great way under ground ; and though their leaves are nar- 
 row, they have them in fuch numbers, that they cover the 
 face of the ground with plants endtefsly multiplied. At 
 the flighteft fhower, you fee them all rear themfelves into 
 tlie air, at their extremities, as if they were fo many claws. 
 They even refill conflagration, which confumes fo many 
 trees in the loreft. I have (een countries in which they 
 every year fet the herbage on fire, in the feafon of drought, 
 recover themfelves, as foon as it rained, with the moll 
 lovely verdure. Though this fire be fo a6tive, as frequently 
 to devour, root and branch, the trees which come into 
 contaQ with it, the roots of herbage fuftain no great in- 
 jury from it. 
 
 They have, moreover, the faculty of reproducing them- 
 felves in three different ways, by fhoots which pufh away 
 from their roots, by creeping branches, which they ex- 
 tend to a diflance, and by grains extremely volatile or in- 
 digeftiblc, which the winds and the animals fcatter about 
 on every fide. The greatcll part of trees, on the contra- 
 ry, naturally regenerate themfelves only by their feeds. 
 Add to the general advantages of graffes, an aflonifliing 
 variety of charaQers, in their florifi cation and in their 
 altitudes, which renders them more proper than vegeta- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 259 
 
 bles of every oilier clafs, to grow in every variety of fitu- 
 ation. 
 
 It is in this cofmopolite family, if I may be allowed 
 the expreflion, that Nature has placed the principal ali- 
 ment of Man ; for the various fpecics of corns, on which 
 fo many human tribes fubfift, are only fo many fpecles of 
 graffes. There is no land on the Globe where fome kind 
 of corn or another may not be raifed. Homer, who had 
 ftudied Nature fo accurately, frequently charaQerizes each 
 country by the vegetable peculiar to it. One ifland he 
 celebrates for its grapes, another for its olive trees, a third 
 for its laurels, and a fourth for its palms ; but to the 
 Earth only he gives the general epithet of Zs/^a;p, or 
 corn giving. Nature, in faft, has formed it for growing 
 in all fituatlons, from the Line to the very border ot the 
 Frozen Ocean. One fpecles is adapted to the humid place<; 
 of warm countries, as the rice of Afia, which grows in 
 vaft abundance in the muddy fwamps by the fide ot the 
 Ganges. Another is fulted to the marlhy grounds of 
 cold countries; fuch is a kind of falfe oats, which natur- 
 ally grows on the banks of the rivers of North America, 
 and of which many favage Nations annually raifeimmenfe 
 
 crops * 
 
 Other kinds of corn thrive wonderfully well on warm 
 and dry lands, as the millet and the pannlck of Africa, and 
 the maize of Brafil. In our climates, wheat agrees beft 
 with a ftrong foil, rye with a fandy one, buckwheat with 
 rainy declivities, oats with humid plains, barley with ftony 
 ground. Barlev fucceeds in the very bofom of the North. 
 1 have feen, as far up as the fixty firft degree of North Lat- 
 itude, amldft the rocks of Flndland, crops ol this gram 
 as beautiful as ever the plains of Palefline produced. 
 
 Corn affords an abundant fupply to all the necefli- 
 tles of Man. With its ftraw he enjoys the means or 
 
 * ConCuk Father Henn.pfn, a Tranclfcan : a.-/>/airr, and other Travel- 
 krs through North America. 
 
3O0 A VINDICATION o? 
 
 lodging, of covering, of warming himfelf, and of feeding. 
 his fheep, his cow and his horfe ; with its grain he can 
 compound aliments and liquors of every flavour. The 
 jTorthern Nations brew it into beer, and diftii from it 
 flrong waters, more potent than tliofe from wine ; fuch 
 are the diftillations of Dantzick. The Chinefe* extraft 
 from rice, a wine as agreeable as the belt wines of Spain. 
 The Brafilians prepare their ouicou with maize. In a 
 word, with oats torrefied, it is poffible to compofe a cream 
 which fhall have the perfume of the vanilla. If we unite 
 with thefe qualities thofe of the other domeftic plants, 
 mofl ot which likewife grow all over the Earth, we fhall 
 find in them the favour of the clove, of pepper, of other 
 fpiceries; and without going farther than our own gar- 
 dens, we fhall be able to colleft the delicacies fcattered o- 
 ver the reft of the vegetable Creation. 
 
 We may diftinguifh, in the barley and the oats, the ele- 
 mentary chara£fers which have been formerly indicated, 
 and which vary the fpecies of plants of the fame genus, 
 in a conformity to the fituations where they are defigned 
 to grow. The barley deftined to dry places has leaves 
 broad and open at their bafe, which convey the rain wa- 
 ter to the root of the plant. The long beards which fur- 
 mount the coat that is wrapped round the grain, are brift- 
 led with denticulations, very much adapted to the pur- 
 pofe, of making them adhere to the hair of animals, and of 
 refowing them in lofty and dry fituations. The oats, on 
 the contrary, deftined to humid places, have narrow leaves, 
 gathered clofe around the ftem, in order to intercept the 
 rain water. The coats of this plant diftended, fimilar to 
 two long half bladders, and not very clofely adhering to 
 the grain, render it proper for floating, and crofting the 
 v/ater by the help of the winds. But here we are prefent- 
 td with a ftill more wonderful faft, which will confirm 
 what has been advanced, refpefting the ufes of the differ- 
 
 ♦ Joufncy to China, by JJbnuid Ides. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 304 
 
 cnt parts of plants, relatively to the elements, and which 
 extends the views of Nature even beyond the fruftifica- 
 tion, though we have confidered this as the determining 
 charafter ; it is, that barley, in rainy years, degenerates 
 into oats, and that oats, in dry feafons, change into bar- 
 ley. 
 
 This obfervation, related by Pliny, Galen and Mathiola, 
 the Commentator of D lof cor ides, "^ has been confirmed by 
 the experiments of feveral modern Naturalifts. Mathiola, 
 indeed, alleges, that this transformation of barley is not 
 into oats properly fo called, which he denominates Bro- 
 7nos, but into a plant which, at firft fight, refembles it, 
 and to which he gives the name of jEgilops. This trans- 
 formation, demonftrated by the frequently repeated ex- 
 periments of the hufloandmen of his country, and by that 
 which the father of Galen made, exprefsly for his own 
 fatisfa6lion; together with that of the flowers of the lin- 
 arium, and of the leaves of many vegteables, are fufficient 
 proof, that the elementary relations of plants, are only fec- 
 ondary relations, and that anrmal, or human, relations are 
 the primary. Thus, Nature has placed the character of a 
 plant, not only in the form of the fruit, but in the fub- 
 ff ance of that very fruit. 
 
 Hence I prefume, that having formed, in general, of a 
 mealy fubftance, the bafis of human life. Nature has dif- 
 fufed it overall fituations, on different fpecies ofgraffes; 
 that afterwards, intending to add to this, certain modifica- 
 tions relative to fome humors of the human temperament, 
 or to fome influence of feafon, or of climate, fhe has form- 
 ed other combinations of it, which fhe has depofited in 
 leguminous plants, fuch as peafe and beans, which the 
 Romans comprehended in the clafs of corn plants ; that, 
 £ naliy, flie has formed another fort of it, which flie has 
 laid up in the fruits of trees, fuch as cheflnuts, or in roots, 
 
 • See Uat'lmia on Diofcoridcs^ book iv. page 432, 
 
302 A VINDICATIOiNT of 
 
 as potatoes, and other farinaceous under ground vegeta- 
 bles. 
 
 Thofe adaptations of fubflance to every climate are fo 
 infallibly certain, that, in every country, the fruit which 
 is* moft common there is the beft, and the moft whole- 
 fome. Hence I farther prefume, that Ihe has followed 
 the fame plan with refpetl to medicinal plants; and that 
 having diffufed over various families of vegetables, vir- 
 tues relative to our blood, to our nerves, to our humours, 
 fhe has modified them in every country, conformably to 
 the difeafes which the climate of each particular country 
 generates, and has placed them in oppofition with the par- 
 ticular charafters of thofe fame difeafes. It is, in my 
 opinion, from the negleft of thefe obfervations, that fo 
 manv doubts and difputes have been excited refpefting 
 the virtues of plants. A fimple, which, in one country, is 
 an infallible cure for a malady, may, fometimes increafe 
 it in another. The Jefuits powder, which is the pounded 
 bark of a fpecies of frefh water manglier of Mexico, is a 
 remedy for the fevers of America, of a kind peculiar to 
 damp and hot fituations, but frequently fails when applied 
 to thofe of Europe. Every medicine is modified accord- 
 ing to the place, juft as every malady is. 
 
 1 fhall purfue this refleftion no farther, as it would lead 
 me into a deviation from my fubjeft ; but if Phyficians 
 would pay the attention to it which it merits, they mufl: 
 jludy more carefully the plants of their own country, and 
 not prefer to them, as they generally do, thofe of foreign 
 climates, which they arc under the ncceiruy of modifying 
 a thoufand different ways, in order to give them, as chance 
 may dircfl, an adaptation to local maladies. One thing 
 is certain, namely, that when Nature has determined a 
 certain favour in any vegetable, (he repeats it all over the 
 Earth, with a variety of modifications, which do not, how- 
 ever, prevent our dillinguilhing its principal virtue. 
 Thus, having placed the cochlcana (fcurvy grafs) that 
 powerful antilcorbutic, even oia the foggy fhores of Spitz- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 303 
 
 bcrgen, ftie has repeated the favour and the medicinal qual- 
 ities of it, in the crefTes of our brooks, in the garden crefT- 
 es, in the nafturtium, which is a crefs of the rivers of Pe- 
 ru ; in a word, in the very grains of the papaya, which 
 grows in humid places of the Antilles Iflands. We find, 
 in like manner, the favour, the fmell, and the medicinal 
 qualities of our garlick, in the woods, the barks, and the 
 mofles of America."* 
 
 * I muft here obferve that garlic, the fmell of which is fo formidable to 
 our fine ladies, is, perhaps, the moft infallible remedy in the World againfl: 
 the vapours, and all the nervous diforders to which women are fo fubjeft. 
 Of this I have had repeated experience. Nay, Pliny goes fo far as t» 
 affureus, that it is a cure for the epilepfy. It is, befides, an antifeptic; 
 and every plant which has its fmell, ha« alfo the fame virtues. It is very 
 remarkable, that plants which fmell like garlic, ufually grow in marfhy 
 places, as a remedy, provided by Nature, againft the putrid emanations 
 thence exhaled. Such is, among others, the/wt/?«?;z. G^/^n relates, that 
 its antifeptic virtue became demonftrable from this, that after a battle, the 
 dead bodies which happened to be in contraft with plants of the fcordium, 
 were found to be in a much lefs putrid ftate than thofe which were not ; 
 and that thofe bodies remained frefh and found chiefly in the parts which 
 aftually touched the plant. But the experiment which the Baron Bujbequius 
 made with it, upon living bodies, is ftill more ftriking. That great Man, 
 on his return from the firft journey which he made to Conftantinople, was 
 attended by a numerous retinue. A Turk of his fuite was attacked with the 
 plague and died. His companions refolutely divided his fpoils among 
 themfelves, in defiance of the remonftrances of the Phyfician B^>fJequius^^Nh.o 
 affured them that the peftilence would thereby be immediately communi- 
 cated. In faft, a few days after, the fymptoms of that dreadful malady 
 became apparent among them. 
 
 But let us permit the intelligent and virtuous Ambaffador himfelf to give 
 an account of the confequences of this alarming event. ** The day after 
 ** our departure from Adrianople," fays he, " they all came to him (the 
 ** Phyfician) with a fad and dejefted air, complaining of a violent head- 
 *' ache, and imploring relief. Tiiey were perfeftly fenfible that they were 
 *' affefted with the firft fymptoms of the peftilence. My Phyfician rep- 
 ** rimanded them feverely, faying he wasaftoniftied how they dared to ap- 
 ** ply to him for a remedy from an evil of which he had forewarned them, 
 ** and which they had obflinately perfiftcd in bringing upon themfelves. 
 ** Not, however, that he intended to withhold any affiftance which might 
 *' be in his power. On the contrary, he became extremely uneafy about 
 ** the means of relieving thera : But where was the poflibility of finding 
 ** medicine oh a road frequently fubjefted to a failure of tkc moft com- 
 
304 A VINDICATION o? 
 
 Thefeconfiderations induce me to believe, that the ele« 
 mentary charafters of plants, and their entire configuration, 
 are only fecondary means, and that their principal char- 
 a£ler is referribie to the necefTities of Man. Thus, in or- 
 der to eflablifh in plants an order fimple and agreeable, 
 inflcad of running over fuccefTively their elementary, veg- 
 etable, animal, and human harmonies, it would be more 
 proper to invert this order, but without changing it, and 
 to fet out with the plants which prefent to Man a fupply 
 for his firfl wants, to proceed thence to the ufes which an- 
 imals derive from them, and to conclude with the fitua- 
 lions which determine their varieties. 
 
 This order may be followed fo much the more eafily, 
 that the firfl point of departure is fixed by the fmell and 
 the tafle. The teflimony of thefe two fenfes is far from 
 being contemptible; for they afTifl us in afcertaining the 
 intimate qualities of plants, much better than the decom- 
 pofilions of Chemiflry; it may be extended to the whole 
 
 *' mon necelTarles of life ? Providence became our only refuge, and wc 
 ** were effcftually fuccoured in this trying hour. I am going to relate in 
 •* what manner. 
 
 *' It was my cuftom on our arrival at the different halting places on the 
 *' road, to go a walking in the vicinity, and to take a view of every thing 
 ** curious. That day I was fo fortunate as to bend my courfe to an adja- 
 •* cent meadow. My eye happened to catch fight of a plant with which 
 ** I was unacquainted ; I picked up fomeof its leaves, and put them to my 
 •* n'ofc: Ihcy fmelled of gulic. I handed them to my phyfician, alTcing 
 " him if he knew the plant. After having attentively examined it, he re- 
 ** plied that it was the fcordium. He lifted up his hands to Heaven, and 
 " gave thanks to Gob for the feafonable relief which He had fcnt us. He 
 *' inllantly gathered a confiderablc quantity, put it into a large kettle, and 
 " boiled it thoroughly. Then, calling for the patients, defired them to 
 ** take courage, and, without the lofs of a moment, made them drink co- 
 ♦♦ pioufly of the decoftion of that plant, with a flight infufion of the earth 
 *' of Lemnos : He then had them well warmed, and put to bed, defiring 
 " them not to go to flcep till they had fallen into a profuic perfpiration, 
 " with which they exaftly complied. The next day they felt thcmfelvcs 
 ** greatly relieved. A fimilar dofe was repeated, and the whole ended in 
 ** a pcifctl cure. Thus, through the goodnefsof God, we efcaped a death 
 " which flared us immediately in the face." (Letters ol the Baton Rujlc- 
 qutus, vol. i. page 197 and 198.) 
 
BiVINE PROVIDENCE. 305 
 
 vegetable kingdom, inafmuch as ibere is not a fingle ge- 
 nus of plants, varied into umbelliferous, rofe formed, pa- 
 pilionaceous, and the reft, but what prefents food to Man, 
 in fome part or another of the Globe. The ciperus of 
 Ethiopia bears, at its root, bulbs which have the tafte of 
 almonds. That which in Italy is called Trafi produces 
 bulbs which tafte like cheftnuts."^ We have found, in 
 America, the potatoe in the clafs oi folana, which are 
 poifons. It is a jafmine of Arabia, which fupplies us 
 with the coffee berry. The eglantine, with us, produces 
 berries fit only for the ufe of birds ; but that of the Land 
 of YefTo, which grows there among rocks, and the fliells 
 on the fea fhore, bears cups fo large and fo nourifhing-, 
 that they ferve for food to the inhabitants of thofe fhores, 
 for a confiderable part of the year.t The ferns of our 
 hills are unproductive ; but there grows in North America 
 a fpecies of this plant, called Filix baccifera, loaded with 
 berries, which are very good to eat.:}; The treeitfelf of the 
 Molucca Iflands, called Libbi by the inhabitants, and 
 palm fago by travellers, is, in the judgment of our Bot- 
 anifts, merely a fern. This fern contains in its trunk the 
 fago, a fubflance lighter, and more delicate than rice. 
 In a word, there are even certain fpecies of fea weed, 
 which the Chinefe eat with dehght, among others, thofe 
 which compofe the nefts of a fpecies of f wallow. 
 
 By difpofing in this order, therefore, the plants which 
 produce the principal fubfiftence of Man, as the graifes, 
 we fhould have, firft, for our own country ; the wheat of 
 ftrong lands, the rye of the fands, the barley of the rocks, 
 the oats of humid places, the buck wheat of rainy decliv- 
 ities ; and for other climates and expofures, the pannic, 
 the millet, the maize, the Canadian oats, the rice of Afia, 
 
 * See the Catalogue of Garden Plants of Boulogne, by Hyacinth Atahu 
 fino. 
 
 + Confiilt Colleftion of Voyages by Thevcnot. 
 
 X See Father Ckarkvoix, his Hiftory of New France, 
 
 VOL. II, P p 
 
oo6 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 ibme ipccics of which thrive in dry fituations ; and fo of 
 the i^eft. 
 
 It would be farther uleful to afcertain on the Globe the 
 places to which the fevcral origin of each ahmentary 
 plant might be referred. What 1 have to advance on 
 ihis fubiect may be conje6lure merely, but it appears to 
 me to have an air of probability. 1 am of opinion, then, 
 that Nature has placed in iflands the fpecies of plants 
 which are mod beautiful, and befl adapted to the necefli- 
 ties of Man. Firil, iflands are more tavourable to the el- 
 ementary expanfions of plants, than the interior of con- 
 tinents, for there is no one but what enjoys the influences 
 of all the elements, being completely furrounded by the 
 winds and the feas, and frequently in its interior, pofTeflT- 
 lUfr the combined advantages of plains, of fands, of lakes, 
 of rocks and of mountains. An ifland is a little world in 
 epitome. Secondly, their particular temperature is fo va- 
 ried, that you find of them in all the principal points of 
 Longitude and Latitude, though there be a confiderable 
 number ilill unknown to us, particularly in the South 
 Seas. Finallv, experience demonftrates, that there is not 
 a fnvAe fruit tree in Europe, but what becomes more 
 beautiful in fome of the iflands along its coafts, than in 
 the Continent. 
 
 1 have fpoken of the beauty of the cheflnut trees of 
 Corfica and Sicily : But Pliny, who has preferved to us 
 the origin of the fruit trees which were in Italy in his 
 time, informs us, that mofl: of them had been imported 
 from the iflands of the Archipelago. The walnut came 
 from Sardinia ; the vine, the fig tree, the olive, and many 
 other fruit trees, were natives of the other iflands of the 
 Mediterranean. Nay, heobfervcs, that the olive tree, as well 
 as fevcral other plants, thrives only in the vicinity of the 
 Sea. All modern travellers confirm thefe obfervations. 
 Tavcr/ricr, who had fo many times traverfed the Afiatic 
 Continent, alfures us, that no olive trees are to be feen be- 
 yond Aleppo. An anonymous Englifti traveller, whom 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 307 
 
 I have already quoted with approbation, pofitively afferts, 
 that no where, on the Continent, are there to be found fig 
 trees, vines, mulberries, as well as many other fruit trees, 
 once to be compared, either as to magnitude or fertility, 
 with thofe of the Archipelago, notwithftanding the care- 
 leffnefs and indolence of the wretched poffellbrs. To 
 thefe I might add a great many other vegetables, which 
 thrive only in thofe iflands, and which furnilh to the 
 commerce of Europe, gums, mannas, and dye fluffs. The 
 apple tree, fo common in Trance, produces no where 
 fuch fine fruit, and of fpecies fo varied, as on the fliores 
 of Normandy, under the breath of the fea breeze from the 
 Weft. I have no doubt that the fruit which was propof- 
 ed as the prize of beauty had, like Venus herfelf, fome fa- 
 vourite ifle. 
 
 If we carry our remarks even into the Torrid Zone we 
 fiiall find that it is neither from Afia, nor from Africa, 
 that we obtain the clove, the nutmeg, the cinnamon, the 
 pepper of the beft quality ; the benzoin, the fandal wood, 
 the fago and many others, but from the Molucca Iflands, 
 or from thofe which are in the fame feas. The cocoa 
 tree attains its perfeft beauty only in the Maldivia Iflands. 
 Nay, there are, in the archipelagos of thofe Seas, a great 
 number of fruit trees defcribed by Da?npier, which have 
 not yet been tranfplanted into the Old Continent ; fuch 
 as the grape tree. The double cocoa is to be found only 
 in the Sechelles Iflands. The iflands recently difcovered 
 in the Soutli Sea, fuch as that of Tai'ti, have prefented us 
 with trees hitherto unknown, as the bread fruit, and the 
 mulberry tree, the bark of which ferves to make cloth. 
 As much may be fald of the vegetable productions of the 
 Iflands of America relatively to their Continent. 
 
 Thefe obfervations might be extended even to the very 
 birds and quadrupeds, which are more beautiful, and of 
 fpecies more varied, in iflands, than any where clfe. Tlie 
 elephants held in highefl: efl;imation in Afia, are thofe of 
 the Ifland of Ceylon. The Indians believe them to be 
 
3o8 A VINDICATION of 
 
 pofTefTed of fomething divine ; nay, more, they allege, 
 that other elephants acknowledge this fuperiority. One 
 thing is certain, they fetch a higher price all over Afia 
 than any others. In a word, travellers the moft worthy 
 of credit, and who have made the moft accurate obferva- 
 tions, as the Englifh Dampier^ Father dii Tertre^ and 
 fome others, affure us, that there is not a fhallow in the 
 feas lying between the Tropics, but what is diftinguiflied 
 by fome fort of bird, of crab, of turtle, or of fifh, which 
 is no where elfe to be found, either of fpecies fo varied, 
 or in fo great abundance. I prefume that Nature has 
 thus fcattered her choiceft benefits over the iflands, in or- 
 der to allure men thither, and to pervade the Earth. Thefe 
 are only conjectures, I grant; but they rarely deceive us 
 when they are founded on the wifdom and goodnefs of 
 the Author of Nature. 
 
 The fineft fpecies of corn, therefore, which is wheat, 
 might be referred to Sicily, where, in faft, they pretend it 
 was originally found. Fable has immortalized this dif- 
 coviery, by making that ifland the fcene of the amours of 
 Ceres ; as well as the birth of Bacchus, in the Ifle of Nax- 
 os, becaufe of the beauty of its vines. This much is 
 certain, that corn is no where indigenous but in Sicily, if, 
 however, it ftill reperpetuates itfelf there fpontaneoufly, 
 as the Ancients affirm. 
 
 After having fletermincd in the fame manner, the other 
 human accommodations of the grafles to different fitua- 
 tions of ground, we might examine the graffes which ex- 
 hibit marked relations to our domeftic animals, fuch as 
 the ox, the horfe, the fheep, the dog. We might char- 
 afterize them by the names of thefe animals. We fhould 
 have the gramen hcvinum, equinum, oviniim, caninum. 
 The dilferenr fpecies of each of thefe genera, might af- 
 terwards be diftinguiflied by the names of the different 
 places where they are found by the feveral animals ; on 
 i\\& banks of rivers, among rocks, on fands, on moun- 
 uins ; fo that by the addition of the epithets, JluviatiU^ 
 
DIVINE PROVIDE^NXE. 309 
 
 faxatik, arenofum, viontanum, you might fupply, m two 
 words, all the vorbofe phrafculugy of our botanical com- 
 pofidons. 
 
 We might apportion, in like manner, the other graffes, 
 to the different quadrupeds of our forefts, as to the Hag, 
 to the hare, to the wild boar, and fo on, I'hefe fir 11: de- 
 terminations would require certain experiments to be 
 made on the taftes of animals, but they would be very in- 
 ilruftive, and highly amufmg. They would have no 
 mixture of cruelty, as moft of thofe of our modern phyf- 
 ics have, by which the wretched animal is flead alive, poi- 
 foned, or fuffocated, in order to come at the knowledge 
 of its propenfities. Our experiments would fludy their 
 appetites only, and not their convulfions. Befides, there 
 are a great many of thofe preferred and rejc8ed plants, 
 already well known to our fhepherds. One of them 
 fhewed me, in the vicinity of Paris, a gramineous plant, 
 which fattens (lieep more in a fortnight, than the other 
 fpecies can do in two months. The moment, too, that 
 they perceive it, they run after it with the utmolt 
 avidity. Of this I have been an eye witnefs. I do not 
 mean, however, to affert that each fpecies of animal lim- 
 its its appetite to a Tingle fpecies of food. It is quite fui- 
 ficient, in order to eftablifli the order which 1 am pro- 
 pofing, that each of them gives, in every genus of plant, 
 a decided preference to fome one fpecies; and this is 
 confirmed, beyond all doubt, by experience. 
 
 The great clafs of the gramineous plants being thus ap- 
 portioned to-Man and animals, other plants would prefent 
 flill greater facility in their appropriations, bccaufc they 
 are much lefs numerous. Of the fifteen hundred and fif- 
 ty fpecies of plants, enumerated by Sthajlian U Vaillant 
 in the country adjacent to Paris, tliere are more than a 
 hundred families, among which that of the graffes compre- 
 hends, for its fliare, eightyfive fpecies, exclufive of twen- 
 tyfix varieties, and our different forts of corns. It is the 
 jBoft numerous next to that of mufhrooms, which con- 
 
310 A VINDICATION of 
 
 tains a hundred and ten fpecies, and that of mofTes, which 
 contains eightyfix. Thus, inllead of the fyftcmatic claf- 
 fification of botanic Writers, which gives no explanation 
 of the ufes of moft of the vegetable parts, which frequently 
 confounds plants the moft heterogeneous, and feparates 
 thofe of the fame genus, we fliould have an order fimple, 
 cafy, agreeable, and of an infinite extent, w^hich pafling 
 from Man to animals, to vegetables, and to the elements, 
 would difcover to us the plants which ferve to our ufe, 
 and to that of other fenfible Beings, would render to 
 each of them its elementary relations, to each fite on the 
 Earth its vegetable beauty, and would replenifh the heart 
 of Man with admiration and gratitude. This plan ap- 
 pears fo much the more conformable to that of Nature, 
 that it is entirely comprehended in the benediftion which 
 its Author pronounced upon our firft parents, faying 
 unto them :* *' Behold, I have given unto you every 
 " herb bearing feed, which is upon the face of all the 
 " Earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a 
 " tree yielding feed, after its kind: To you it fliall be for 
 *' meat : And to every beaft of the Earth, and to every 
 " fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon 
 *' the Earth, wherein there is life, 1 have given every 
 *' green herb for meat." 
 
 This benediftion is not confined, as far as Man is con- 
 cerned, to fome primordial fpecies in each genus. It is 
 extended to the whole vegetable kingdom, which converts 
 itfelf into aliment fit for his ufe, by means of the domef- 
 tic animals. Linn a- as has prcfcnted to them, from the 
 cicrht to the nine hundred plants which Sweden produces, 
 and he remarked that, of thefe, the cow eats two hundred 
 and eightyfix ; the goat, four hundred and fiftyeight ; the 
 ihecp, four hundred and feventcen ; the horfe, two hun- 
 dred and feventyeight ; the hog, one hundred and feven. 
 The firfl animal refutes only one hundred and eightyfour 
 
 ♦ GcnefiSj chap. i. ver. 29, 30. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 
 
 311 
 
 of them ; the fecond, ninety two ; the third, one hun- 
 dred and twelve ; the fourth, two hundred and feven ; 
 the fifth, one hundred and ninety. In thefe enumera- 
 tions he comprehends only the plants which thofe ani- 
 mals eat with avidity, and thofe which they obftinately 
 rejeft. The others are indifferent to them. They eat 
 them when necellity requires, and even with pleafure, 
 when they are tender. Not one of them goes to wafte, 
 Thofe which are rejected by fome, are a high delice to 
 others. The moft acrid, and even the moft venemous, 
 ferve to fatten one or another. The goat browfes on 
 the ranunculus of the meadow, though hot as pepper, on 
 the tithymal and the hemlock. The hog devours the 
 horfetail and henbane. He did not put the afs to this 
 kind of proof, for that animal does not live in Sweden, 
 nor the rein deer, which fupplies the want of him to fo 
 much advantage in northern regions, nor the other domef- 
 tic animals, fuch as the duck, the goofe, the hen, the pig- 
 eon, the cat and the dog. 
 
 All thefe animals united, feem deflined to convert to 
 our advantage every thing that vegetates, by means of 
 their univerfal appetites, and efpecially by that inexplica- 
 ble inflinci; of domellicity which attaches them to Man ; 
 whereas no art can communicate it either to that timid 
 animal the deer, nor even to fome of the fmaller birds, 
 which feek to live under our prote61ion, fuch as the 
 fwaliow, who builds her neft in our houfes. Nature has 
 bellowed this inflin6l of fociability with Man, only on 
 thofe whofe fervices might be ufeful to him at all feafons ; 
 and fhe has given them a configuration wonderfully adapt- 
 ed to the different afpefts of the vegetable kingdom. 
 
 I fay nothing ol the camel of the Arabian, which can 
 travel under a load, for feveral days together, without 
 drinking, in traveriing the burning fands of Zara ; nor of 
 the rein deer of the Laplander, whofe deeply cleft hoof 
 can fallen, and run along, on the furface of the fnow ; nor 
 of the rhinoceros of the Siamefe and of the Peguan, who, 
 
312 A VINDICATION o? 
 
 with the folds of his fKiii, which he can diflend at pleaf- 
 ure, is able to difengagehimfelf out of the marfhy grounds 
 of Siriam ; nor of the Afiatic elephant, whofe foot, divid- 
 ed into five ergots, is fo fure on the fteep mountains of 
 jhe Torrid Zone ; nor of the lama of Peru, who, with 
 his forked feet, fcrambles over the rocky heights of the 
 Cordeliers. Every extraordinary fituation is maintain- 
 ing for Man a ufcful and commodious fervant. 
 
 But without removing from our own hamlets, the fin- 
 gle hoofed horfe paflures in the plains, the ponderous 
 cow in the bottom of the valley, the bounding fhieep on 
 the declivity of the hill, the fcrambling goat on the fides 
 of the rocks; the hog, furnifhed with a probofcis, rakes 
 up the morafs from the bottom ; the goofe and the duck 
 feed on the fluviatic plants ; the hen picks up every grain 
 that was fc-attered about, and in danger of being loft in the 
 field ; the four winged bee collcfts a tribute from the fmall 
 (luft of the flowers ; and the rapid pigeon haftens to fave 
 from lofs the grains which the winds had conveyed to in- 
 accefhble rocks. All theic animals, after having occupi- 
 ed through the day the various fites of vegetation, return 
 in the evening to the habitation of Man, with bleatings, 
 with murmurings, with cries of joy, bringing back to him 
 the delicious produce ot the vegetable creation, transform- 
 ed, by a procefs altogether inconceivable, into honey, into 
 miIk,''rnto butter, into eggs, and into cream. 
 
 I take delight in reprefenting to myfelf thofe early ages 
 of the World, when rnen travelled over the face of the 
 Earth, attended by their flocks and herds, laying the 
 whole vegetable kingdom under contribution. The Sun, 
 going before them, in the Spring, invited them to advance 
 to the fartheft extremities of the North, and to return 
 with Autumn bringing up his train. His annual courle 
 in the fleavcns feems to be regulated by the progrefs of 
 Man over the Earth. While the Orb of Day is advanc- 
 ing from the Tropic of Capricorn to that of Cancer, a 
 traveller departing on foot from the Torrid Zone, may 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 305 
 
 f egelable kingdom, inafmuch as there is not a fingle ge- 
 nus of plants, varied into umbelliferous, rofe formed, pa- 
 pilionaceous, and the reft, but what prefents food to Man, 
 in fome part or another of the Globe. The ciperus of 
 Ethiopia bears, at its root, bulbs which have the tafte of 
 almonds. That which in Italy is called Trafi produces 
 bulbs which tafte like cheftnuts,* We have found, in 
 America, the potatoe in the clafs oi folana, which are 
 poifons. It is a jafmine of Arabia, which fupplies us 
 with the coffee berry. The eglantine, with us, produces 
 berries fit only for the ufe of birds ; but that of the Land 
 of YefTo, which grows there among rocks, and the ftiells 
 on the fea fhore, bears cups fo large and fo nouriftiing, 
 that they ferve for food to the inhabitants of thofe fliores 
 for a confiderable part of the year.+ The ferns of our 
 hills are unprodu6live ; but there grows in North America 
 a fpecies of this plant, called Filix baccifera, loaded with 
 berries, which are very good to eat.| The treeitfelf of the 
 Molucca Iflands, called Libbi by the inhabitants, and 
 palm fago by travellers, is, in the judgment of our Bot- 
 anifts, merely a fern. This fern contains in its trunk the 
 fago, a fubftance lighter, and more delicate than rice. 
 In a word, there are even certain fpecies of fea weed, 
 which the Chinefe eat with delight, among others, thofe 
 which compdfe the nefts of a fpecies of fwallow. 
 
 By difpofing in this order, therefore, the plants which 
 produce the principal fubfiftence ot Man, as the graffes, 
 we ftiould have, firft, for our own country ; the wheat of 
 ftrong lands, the rye of the fands, the barley of the rocks, 
 the oats of humid places, the buck wheat of rainy decliv- 
 ities ; and for other climates and expofures, the pannic, 
 the millet, the maize, the Canadian oats, the rice of Afia, 
 
 * See the Catalogue of Garden Plants of Boulogne, by Hyacinth Ambr§' 
 fino. 
 
 + Confult Colle£lion of Voyages by Thetenot. 
 
 X See Father CliarUvoix^ his Hiftory of New Fiance^ 
 
 VOL. II. P p 
 
3<j6 a vindication of 
 
 fomc fpccies of which thrive in dry fituations ; and fo of 
 the re 11. 
 
 It would be farther ufeful to afcertain on the Globe the 
 places to ^hich the feveral origin of each alimentary 
 plant might be referred. What 1 have to advance on 
 this fubjetl may be conjeQure merely, but it appears to 
 me to have an air of probability. I am of opinion, then, 
 that Nature has placed in iflands the fpecies of plants 
 which are moft beautiful, and beft adapted to the necefE- 
 lies of Man. Firft, iflands are more favourable to the el- 
 ementary expanfions of plants, than the interior of con- 
 tinertts, for there is no one but what enjoys the influences 
 of all the elements, being completely furrounded by the 
 winds and the feas, and frequently in its interior, polTeiT- 
 ini^ the combined advantages of plains, of fands, of lakes, 
 of rocks and of mountains. An ifland is a little world in 
 epitome. Secondly, their particular temperature is fo va- 
 ried, that you find of them in all the principal points of 
 Loncritude and latitude, though there be a confiderable 
 number ftill unknown to us, particularly in the South 
 Seas. Finally, experience demonftrates, that there is not 
 a fmgle fruit tree in Europe, but what becomes more 
 beautiful in forae of the iflands along its coafts, than in 
 the Continent. 
 
 1 have fpoken of the beauty of the chellnut trees of 
 Cor-fica and Sicily : But Pliny, who has preferved to us 
 the origin of the fruit trees which were in Italy in his 
 time, informs us, that moft of them had been imported 
 from the i Hands of the Archipelago. The walnut came 
 from Sardinia ; the vine, the fig tree, the olive, and many 
 other fruit trees, were natives of the other iflands of the 
 Mediterranean. Na)', heobferves, that the olive tree, as well 
 as feveral other plants, thrives only in the vicinity of the 
 Sea. All modern travellers confirm thefe obfervations. 
 Tavernur, who had fo many times traverfed the Afiatic 
 Continent, afl'urcs us, that no olive trees are to be feen be-> 
 yond Aleppo. An anonymous Englifli traveller, whon* 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 507 
 
 I have already quoted with approbation, pofitively afTerts, 
 that no where, on the Continent, arc there to be found fig 
 irees, vines, mulberries, as well as many other fruit trees, 
 once to be compared, cither as to magnitude or fertility, 
 with thofe of the Archipelago, notwithllanding the care- 
 leflnefs and indolence of the wretched poffefTors, To 
 thefe I might add a great many other vegetables, which 
 thrive only in tliofe iflands, and which furnilh to the 
 commerce of Europe, gums, mannas, and dye ftufFs. The 
 apple tree, fo common in France, produces no where 
 fuch fine fruit, and of fpecies fo varied, as on the (hores 
 of Normandy, under the breath of the fea breeze from the 
 Weft. I have no doubt that the fruit which was propof- 
 ed as the prize of beauty had, like Vtmis herfelf, fome fa- 
 vourite ifle. 
 
 If we carry our remarks even into the Torrid Zone wie 
 ftall find that it is neither from Afia, nor from Africa, 
 that we obtain tlie clove, the nutmeg, the cinnamon^ the 
 pepper of the beft quality ; the benzoin, the fandal wood, 
 the fago and many others, but from the Molucca Iflands, 
 or from thofe which are in the fame feas. The cocoa 
 tree attains its perfeft beauty only in the Maldivia Iflands. 
 Nay, there are, in the archipelagos of thofe Seas, a great 
 number of fruit trees defcribed by Da7npier, which have 
 not yet been tranfplanted into the Old Continent ; fuch 
 as the grape tree. The double cocoa is to be found onlv 
 in the Sechelles Iflands. The iflands recently difcovered 
 in the South Sea, fuch as that of Ta'iti, have prefented tis 
 with trees hitherto unknown, as the bread fruit, and the 
 mulberry tree, the bark of which ferves to make cloth. 
 As much may be faid of the vegetable produftions of the 
 Iflands of America relatively to their Continent. 
 
 Thefe obfervations might be extended even to the verv 
 birds and quadrupeds, which are more beautiful, and of 
 fpecies more varied, in iflands, than any where elfc. The 
 elephants held in highefl: eftiraation in Afia, are thofe oi 
 the Ifland of Ceylon. The Indians believe them to he 
 
3o8 A VINDICATION of 
 
 pofTeffed of fomething divine ; nay, more, they allege, 
 that other elephants acknowledge this fuperiority. One 
 thing is certain, they fetch a higher price all over Afia 
 than any others. In a word, travellers the moft worthy 
 of credit, and who have made the mofl; accurate obferva- 
 tions, as the Englifh Da?npier^ Father du Tertre^ and 
 fome others, afTure us, that there is not a fhallow in the 
 feas lying between the Tropics, but what is dillinguifhed 
 by fome fort of bird, of crab, of turtle, or of fiffi, which 
 is no where elfe to be found, either of fpecies fo varied, 
 or in fo great abundance. I prefume that Nature has 
 thus fcattered her choiceft benefits over the iflands, in or- 
 der to allure men thither, and to pervade the Earth. Thefe 
 are only conje6fures, I grant; but they rarely deceive us 
 when they are founded on the wifdom and goodnefs of 
 the Author of Nature. 
 
 The fineft fpecies of corn, therefore, which is wheat, 
 might be referred to Sicily, where, in faft, they pretend it 
 was originally found. Fable has immortalized this dif- 
 covery, by making that ifland the fcene of the amours of 
 Ceres ; as well as the birth of Bacchus, in the Ifle of Nax- 
 os, becaufe of the beauty of its vines. This much is 
 certain, that corn is no where indigenous but in Sicily, if, 
 however, it IHll rcperpetuates itfelf there fpontaneoufly, 
 as the Ancients affirm. 
 
 After having determined in the fame manner, the other 
 human accommodations of the graffes to different fitua- 
 lions of ground, we might examine the graffes which ex- 
 hibit marked relations to our domeflic animals, fuch as 
 the ox, the horfe, the fheep, the dog. We might char- 
 a6lerize them by the names of thefe animals. We fhould 
 have the gramen hovinum, equinum, ovinum, caninum., 
 Mhe different fpecies of each of thefe genera, might af- 
 terwards be diftinguifhed by the names of the different 
 places where they are found by the feveral animals ; on 
 the banks of rivers, among rocks, on fands, on moun- 
 tains ; fo that by the addition of the epithets, Jluviatilc^ 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 309 
 
 Jaxatild, arenofim, Diontaniun, you might fupply, m two 
 words, all the verbofe phrafeology of our botanical copj- 
 
 pofitions. 
 
 We might apportion, in like manner, the otlicr gralL-s, 
 to the different quadrupeds of our forefts, as to the ftag, 
 to the hare, to the wild boar, and fo on. 1 hefe firil de- 
 terminations would require certain experiments to be 
 ?nade on the taftes of animals, but they would be very in- 
 ilruftive, and highly amufing. They would have no 
 mixture of cruelty, as moft of thofe of our modern phyf- 
 ics have, by which the wretched animal is flead alive, poi- 
 foned, or fuffocated, in order to come at the knowledge 
 of its'propenfities. Our experiments would ftudy their 
 appetites only, and not their convulfions. Befides, there 
 are a great many of thofe preferred and rejefted plants, 
 already well known to our fliepherds. One ot them 
 {hewed me, in the vicinity of Pans, a gramineous plant, 
 which fattens (heep more in a fortnight, than the other 
 fpecies can do in two months. The moment, too, tiiat 
 they perceive it, they run after it with the utmoft 
 avidity. Of this I have been an eye witnefs. I do not 
 mean, however, to aflert that each {pedes of animal lim- 
 its its appetite to a fingle fpecies of food. It is quite fui- 
 ficient, in order to eftabliih the order which 1 am pro- 
 pofing, that each of them gives, in every genus ot plant, 
 a decided preference to fome one fpecies ; and this is 
 confirmed, beyond all doubt, by experience. 
 
 The great clafs of the gramineous plants being thus ap- 
 portioned to Man ^nd animals, other plants would pieicnt 
 ftill greater facility in their appropriations, becaulc they 
 are much lefs numerous. Of the fifteen hundred and fif- 
 ty fpecies of plants, enumerated by Scbaftian U lunllant 
 in the country adjacent to Paris, there are more than a 
 hundred'families, among which that of the graffcs compre- 
 hends, for its fharc, eightyfive fpecies, exclufive of twen- 
 tyCx varieties, and our different forts of corns. It is the 
 p^p ft numerous next to that of muihrooms, which con- 
 
3,0 A VINDICATION of 
 
 tains a hundred and ten fpecies, and that of mofles, whick 
 contains eightyfix. Thus, inflead of the fyftematic claf- 
 fification of botanic Writers, which gives no explanation 
 of the ufes of moft of the vegetable parts, which frequently 
 confounds plants the moft heterogeneous, and feparates 
 thofe of the fame genus, we fhould have an order fimple, 
 cafy, agreeable, and of an infinite extent, which pafling 
 from Man to animals, to vegetables, and to the elements, 
 would difcover to us the plants which ferve to our ufe, 
 and to that of other fenfible Beings, would render to 
 each of them its elementary relations, to each fite on the 
 Earth its vegetable beauty, and would replenifh the heart 
 of Man with admiration and gratitude. This plan ap- 
 pears fo much the more conformable to that of Nature, 
 that it is entirely comprehended in the benediftion which 
 its Author pronounced upon our firft parents, faying 
 uBto them :* *' Behold, I have given unto you every 
 *' herb bearing feed, which is upon the face of all the 
 ** Earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a 
 •' tree yielding feed, after its kind-: To you it fhall be for 
 ** meat : And to every beaft of the Earth, and to every 
 *' fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon 
 ** the Earth, wherein there is life, I have given every 
 *' green herb for meat." 
 
 This benedi6Hon is not confined, as far as Man is con- 
 cerned, to fome primordial fpecies in each genus. It is 
 extended to the whole vegetable kingdom, which converts 
 itfelf into aliment |it for his ufe, by means of the domef- 
 tic animals. Linnceiis has prefented to them, from the 
 eight to the nine hundred plants which Sweden produces, 
 and he remarked that, of thefe, the co\y eats two hundred 
 and eightyfix ; the goat, four hundred and fiftyeight ; the 
 fheep, four hundred and feventeen ; the horfe, two hun- 
 dred and fcventyeight ; the hog, one hundred and feven. 
 The firft animal refufcs only one hundred and eightyfour 
 
 • GcncGs^ chap, i, ver. 29, 30. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 3U 
 
 of them ; the fecond, ninety two ; the third, one hun- 
 dred and twelve ; the fourth, two hundred and feven ; 
 the fifth, one hundred and ninety. In thefe enumera- 
 tions he comprehends only the plants which thofe ani- 
 mals eat with avidity, and thofe which they obftinatcly 
 rejeft. The others are indifferent to them. They eat 
 them when neceffity requires, and even with pleafure, 
 when they are tender. Not one of them goes to wafte, 
 Thofe which are rejefted by fome, are a high delice to 
 others. The moft acrid, and even the moft venemotfs, 
 ferve to fatten one or another. The goat browfes on 
 the ranunculus of the meadow, though hot as pepper, on 
 the tithymal and the hemlock. The hog devours the 
 horfetail and henbane. He did not put the afs to this 
 kind of proof, for that animal does not live in Sweden, 
 nor the rein deer, which fupplies the want of him to fo 
 much advantage in northern regions, nor the other domef- 
 tic animals, fuch as the duck, the goofe, the hen, the pig- 
 eon, the cat and the dog. 
 
 All thefe animals united, feem deftined to convert to 
 our advantage every thing that vegetates, by means of 
 their universal appetites, and efpcciaily by that inexplica- 
 ble inftinft of domefticity which attaches them to Man ; 
 whereas no art can communicate it either to that timid 
 animal the deer, nor even to fome of the fmaller birds, 
 which feek to live under our protedion, fuch as the 
 fwallow, who builds her neft in our heufes. Nature has 
 beftowed this inftinft of fociability with Man, only on 
 thofe whofe fervices might be ufeful to him at all feafons ; 
 and fhe has given them a configuration wonderfully adapt- 
 ed to the different afpefts of the vegetable kingdom. 
 
 I fay nothing of the camel of the Arabian, which can 
 travel under a load, for feveral days together, without 
 drinking, in traverfing the burning fands of Zara ; nor of 
 the rein deer of the Laplander, whofe deeply cleft hoof 
 ■can fallen, and run along, on the furface of the fnow ; nor 
 ©f the rhinoceros of the Siamefe and of the Peguan, who. 
 
3,2 A VINDICATION o? 
 
 with the folds of his fkin, which he can diilend at pleaf- 
 ure, is able to difcngage himfelf out of the marfhy grounds 
 of Sii-iam ; nor ot the Afiatic elephant, whofe foot, divid- 
 ed into five ergots, is fo fure on the fteep mountains of 
 the Torrid Zone ; nor of the lama of Peru, who, with 
 his forked feet, fcrambles over the rocky heights of the 
 Cordeliers. Every extraordinary fituation is maintain- 
 ing for Man a ufefnl and commodious fervant. 
 
 But without removing from our own hamlets, the fin- 
 gle .hoofed horfe paflures in the plains, the ponderous 
 cow in the bottom of the valley, the bounding fheep on 
 the declivity of the hill, the fcrambling goat on the fides 
 of the rocks ; the hog, furnifhed with a probofcis, rakes 
 up the morafs from the bottom ; the goofe and the duck 
 feed on the fluviatic plants ; the hen picks up every grain 
 that was fcattered about, and in danger of being lofl in the 
 fie]d ; the four winged bee collcfts a tribute from the fmall 
 duft of the flowers ; and the rapid pigeon haflens to fave 
 from lofs the grains which the winds had conveyed to in- 
 accciTible rocks. All thefe animals, after having occupi- 
 ed through the day the various fites of vegetation, return 
 in the evening to the habitation of Man, with bleatings, 
 with murmurings, with cries of joy, bringing back to him 
 the delicious produce of the vegetable creation, transform- 
 ed, by a procefs altogether inconceivable, into honey, into 
 milk,'.into butter, into eggs, and into cream. 
 
 I take delight in reprcfcnting to myfclf thofe early ages 
 of the World, when men travelled over the face of the 
 Earth, attended by their flocks and herds, laying the 
 whole vegetable kingdom under contribution. The Sun, 
 going before them, in the Spring, invited them to advance 
 to the fartheft extremities of the North, and to return 
 with Autumn bringing up his train. His annual courfe 
 in the Heavens feems to be regulated by the progrefs of 
 Man over the Earth. While the Orb of Day is advanc- 
 ing- from the Tropic of Capricorn to that of Cancer, a 
 traveller departing on foot from the Torrid Zone, may 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 313 
 
 arrive on the fliores of the Frozen Ocean, and return 
 thence into the Temperate Zone, when the Sun traces 
 backward his progrefs, at the rate of only four, or, at moft, 
 five leagues a day, without being incommoded, the whole 
 journey through, with either the fultry heat of Summer, 
 or the froft of Winter. It is by regulating themfelves 
 according to the annual courfe of the Sun, that certain 
 Tartar hordes ftill travel. 
 
 What a fpeftacle muft the virgin Earth have prefented 
 to its firft inhabitants, while every thing was as yet in its 
 place, and Nature not yet degraded by the injudicious la- 
 bours, or the defperate madnefs of Man ! I fuppofe them 
 taking their departure from the banks of the Indus, that 
 land which is the cradle of the Human Race, on a prog- 
 refs northward. They firft croffed the lofty mountains of 
 Bember, continually covered with fnow, which, like a 
 rampart, encompafs the happy land of Cachemire, and fep- 
 arate it from the burning kingdom of Labor.* They pre- 
 fented themfelves to their eyes like vaft amphitheatres of 
 verdure, clothed, to the South, with all the vegetables of 
 India, and, to the North, with all thofe of Europe. They 
 defcended into the vaft bafon which contains them, and 
 there they beheld a part of the fruit trees which were def- 
 tined one day to enrich our orchards. The apricots ot 
 Media, and the peach trees of Perfia, fkirted, with their 
 bloffoming boughs, the lakes, and the brooks of living wa- 
 ter which bedew their roots. On leaving the evergreen 
 valleys of Cachemire, they quickly penetrated into the 
 forefts of Europe, and went to repofe under the foliage of 
 the ftately beech and tufted elm, which had as yet fhaded 
 only the loves of the feathered race, and which no Poet 
 had hitherto fung. They croffed the boundlefs meadows 
 which are wafhed by the Irtis, refembling Oceans of ver- 
 dure, here and there diverfified with long beds of yellow 
 lilies, with ftripes of ginzang, and tufts of broad leaved 
 
 * Confult Bernier'i Defcrlption of the Mogul Country, 
 VOL. II. Q q 
 
314 A VINDICATION of 
 
 rhubarb. Following the track of its current, they plung-' 
 ed into the forefts of the North, under the majeftie branch- 
 es of the fir, and the moving foliage of the birch. 
 
 What fmiling valleys opened to their view, along the 
 river's fide, and invited them to deviate from the road, by 
 promifing them obje6is ftill more lovely ! What hills en- 
 amelled with unknown flowe-rs, and crowned with ancient 
 and venerable trees, endeavoured to perfuade them to pro- 
 ceed no farther ! Arrived on the fhores of the Icy Sea, a 
 new order of things arofe to view. There was now no 
 more night. The Sun encompaffed the Horizon round 
 and round ; and the mifts, difperfed through the air, re- 
 peated, on different planes, the luflre oi his rays in rain- 
 bows of purple, and parhelions of dazzling radiance. But, 
 if the magnificence of the Heavens wai multiplied, defo- 
 lation covered the face of the Earth. The Ocean was 
 hoary with mountains oi floating ice, which appeared in 
 the Horizon like towers and cities in ruin ; and on the 
 land, nothing to be feen, in place of groves, but a wretch- 
 ed fhrubbery blafled by the winds, and in (lead of verdant 
 meads, rocks clothed with mofs. The flocks which had 
 accompaaied them mu ft there undoubtedly have periflied ; 
 but even there Nature had ftill made provifion for the ne- 
 ccflTities ot Man. Thofe fliores were compofed of maffy 
 beds of coal.* The feas fwarmed with fifties, and the 
 lakes with fowls. They muft find, among the animal 
 tribes, fcrvants and afliftants : The reindeer appeared in 
 the middle of the moffes : She prefented to thofe wan- 
 dering families, the fervices of the horfe in her agility, the 
 fleece of the fliecp in her fur ; and fliewing them, like the 
 coW, her lour teats, and but one nurfling, ftie feemed ta 
 tell them that flie was deftined, like her, to ftiare her milk 
 with mothers oppreffed by a too numerous offspring. 
 
 But the Eaft muft have been the part of the Globe 
 which firft attrafted the attention of Mankind. That 
 
 * Profcflor Cmcliti'% Journey to Siberia* 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 315 
 
 place of the Horizon where the Sun arifes, undoubtedly 
 fixed their wondering eyes, at a period when no fyflem 
 had interpofed to regulate opinion. On feeing that great 
 Luminary arifing, irom day to day, in the fame quarter 
 of the Heavens, they mull have been perfuaded that he 
 there had a fixed habitation, and that he had another 
 where he fet, as a place of reft. Such imaginations, con- 
 firmed by the teftimony of their eyes, were, it muft be 
 admitted, natural to men deftitute of experience, who had 
 attempted to ereft a tower which (Iiould reach to Heaven, 
 and who, even in the illumination of more fcientific ages, 
 believed, as a point of religion, that the Sun was drawn a- 
 bout in a chariot by horfes, and retired every evening to 
 repofe in the arms of Thetis. I prefume, they would be 
 determined to go in queft of him rather toward the Eafl 
 than toward the Weft, under the perfuafion that they 
 would greatly abridge their labour, by advancing to meet 
 him. 
 
 It muft have been this conviftion, 1 am difpofed to 
 think, which left the Weft, for a long time, in a deferted 
 ftate, under the very fame Latitudes which, in the Eaft, 
 were fwarming with inhabitants, and which firft fent men 
 in crowds toward the eaftern part of our Continent, where 
 the earlieft and moft populous Empire of the World, that 
 of China, was formed. What confirms me farther in the 
 belief, that the firft men, who advanced toward the Eaft, 
 were engaged in this refearch, and were in hafte to reach 
 their objeft,is this, that having taken their departure irom 
 India, the cradle of the Human Race, like the founders 
 of other Nations, they did not, like them, people the Earth 
 progreflively, as Perfia, Greece, Italy and Gaul, were 
 fucceflively, in a wefterly direction ; but leaving defert 
 the vaft and fertile countries of Siam, of Cochinchina, 
 and of Tonquin, which are to this day half barbarous and 
 uninhabited, they never gave up the purfuit till they were 
 flopped by the Eaftern Ocean ; arid they gave to the if- 
 lands which they perceived at a diftance, and on which. 
 
3i6 A VINDICATION of 
 
 they did not for a long time, acquire the fkill to land, the 
 name of Gepuen, which we have transformed into Japan, 
 and which, in the Chinefe language, fignifies, birth of the 
 Sun. 
 
 Father Kircher * alTures us, that when the firft Jefuit 
 Aftronomets arrived in China, and there reformed the 
 Calendar, the Chinefe believed the Sun and the Moon to 
 be no bigger than they appear to the eye ; that, on fet- 
 ting, they retired to a deep cave, from which they iffued 
 next day at the time of rifmg ; and, finally, that the Earth 
 was a plane and fmooth furface. Tacitus, who has writ- 
 ten Hiftory with fuch profound judgment, does not deem 
 it to be beneath him, in that of Germany, to relate the 
 traditions of the wellern Nations, who affirmed, that to- 
 ward the Northweft was the place where the Sun went to 
 bed, and that they could hear the noife which he made on 
 plunging into the waves. 
 
 It was from the quarter of the Eaft, then, that the Orb 
 of Day firft attrafted the curiofity of Mankind. There 
 were, likewife, tribes which direfted their courfe toward 
 that point of the Globe, taking their departure from the 
 fouthern part of India. Thefe advanced along the penin- 
 fula of Malacca ; and, familiarized with the Sea, which 
 they coafted moft of the way, they were induced to form 
 the refolution of availing themfelves of the united accom- 
 modation which the two elements prefent to travellers, by 
 navigating from ifland to ifland. They thus pervaded 
 that vaft belt Oi iflands, which Nature has thrown into the 
 Torrid Zone, like a bridge interfered by canals, in order 
 to facilitate the communication of the two Worlds. 
 When retarded by tempefts, or contrary winds, they drew 
 their barks afhore, caft a few feeds into the ground, reap- 
 ed the crop, and deferred their reembarkation till fairer 
 weather, and a feafon more favourable, encouraged them 
 to venture forth. 
 
 » See China illuflratcd, chap. ix. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. gi; 
 
 Thus it was that the early mariners performed their 
 voyages, and that the Phenicians, employed by Necho^ 
 King of Egypt, made the circuit of Africa in three years, 
 departing by way of the Red Sea, and returning by the 
 Mediterranean, according to the account given of it by 
 Herodotus.* 
 
 The firft Navigators, when they no longer faw iflands 
 in the Horizon, paid attention to the feeds which the Sea 
 call upon the Ihore of thofe where they were, and to the 
 flight of the birds which were withdrawing from it. On 
 the faith of thefe indications, they direHed their courfe 
 toward lands they had never yet feen. Thus were difcov- 
 ered the immenfe Archipelego of the Moluccas, the Iflands 
 of Guam, of Quiros, of the Society, and, undoubtedly, 
 many others which are ftill unknown to us. There was 
 not one but what invited them to land, by prefenting fome 
 attraftive accommodation. Some ftretched out along the 
 waves like Nereids, poured from their urns, rills of frefli 
 water into the Sea : It was thus that the Ifland of Juan 
 Fernandez, with its rocks and cafcades, prefented itfelf 
 to Admiral Anfon, in the midft of the South Sea. Oth- 
 ers, on the contrary, in the fame Ocean, having their cen- 
 tres funk, and their extremities elevated, and crowned 
 with cocoa trees, offer to their canoes bafons at all feafons 
 tranquil, fwarming with fiflies and fea fowls : Such is that 
 known by the name of Woeflerland, or the Land of Water, 
 difcovered by the Dutch Navigator Schouten. Others, in 
 the morning, appeared t^ them, in the bofom of the azure 
 main, all over irradiated with the light of the Sun, as that 
 one of the fame Archipelago which goes by the name of 
 Aurora. Some announce thcmfelves in the darkhefs of 
 night, by the flames of a volcano, as a pharos blazmg aloft 
 amidft the waters, or by the odoriferous emanations of 
 their perfumes. 
 
 There was not one of them of which the woods, the 
 bills, and the downs, did not maintain fome animal, natur- 
 
 * Kcrodotus, book iv. 
 
3i8 A VINDICATION of 
 
 ally familiar and gentle, but which becomes favage only 
 from the cruel experience which it acquires of Man. 
 They faw fluttering around them, as they difembarked on 
 their ftrands, the filken winged birds of paradife, the blue 
 pigeons, the cacatoes all over white, the lauris all over red. 
 iLvery new ifland tendered them fome new prefent ; crabs, 
 fiflies, ihells, pearl oyfters, lobfters, turtles, ambergris ; 
 but the raoft agreeable, beyond all doubt, were the vegeta- 
 bles. Sumatra difplayed, on her fhores, the pepper plant; 
 Banda, the nutmeg ; Amboyna, the clove ; Ceram, the 
 palm fago ; Flore s, the benzoin and fandal wood ; New 
 Guinea, groves of cocoa trees ; Taiti, the bread fruit. 
 Every ifland arofe in the midfl: of the Sea, like a vafe 
 which fupported a precious vegetable. When they dif- 
 covered a tree laden with unknown fruit, they gathered 
 fome branches of it, and ran to meet their companions 
 with fhouts of joy, exhibiting to them this new benefit be- 
 flowed by Nature. 
 
 From thofe early voyages, and from thofe ancient cuf- 
 toms it is, that there has been diffufed, over all Nations, 
 the praftice of confulting the flight of birds before engag- 
 ing in any enterprife, and that of going to meet ftrangers, 
 with the branch of a tree in the hand, in token of peace, 
 and of )oy at fight of a prefent from Heaven. Thefe cuf- 
 toms fl:ill exifl among the iflanders of the South Sea, and 
 among the free tribes of America. But not fruit trees a- 
 lone fixed the attention of the firfl: Men. If fome heroic 
 aftion, or fome irreparable difafler, had excited admira- 
 tion, or infpired regret, the tree adjoining was ennobled 
 by it. They preferred it, with thofe fruits of virtue or 
 ot love, to fuch as produced food or perfume. Thus, in 
 the iflands of Greece and of Italy, the laurel became the 
 fymbol of triumph, and the cyprefs that of eternal forrow. 
 The oak fupplicd crowns of undecaying honour to the well 
 deferving citizen, and Ample grafl'es decorated the brows 
 of the men who had faved their country. O Romans ! 
 people worthy of the Empire of the World, in that you. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^19 
 
 ©pened to every one of your fubjefts the career of virtu- 
 ous exertion, and culled the moft common plants of th« 
 field to ferve as the badge of immortal glory, that a crown 
 for the head of virtue might be found on every fpot of the 
 Globe. 
 
 From fimilar attraftions it was, that, from ifland to if- 
 land, the Nations of Afia made their way to the New- 
 World, where they landed on the fhores of Peru. Thith- 
 er they carried the name of children of that Sun whom 
 they were purfuing. This brilliant chimera emboldened 
 them to attempt the pafTage to America. It was not dif- 
 fipated till they reached the fhores of the Atlantic Ocean j 
 but it difFufed itfelf over the whole Continent, where moft 
 of the Chiefs of the Nations ftill alTume the title of Chil- 
 dren of the Sun.* 
 
 * I do not mean to affirm, however, that America was peopled only 
 from the iflands of the South Sea. I believe that a paflage was opened into 
 it, likewife, by the North of Afia and of Europe. Nature always prefents 
 to Mankind different means for the attainment of the fame end. But the 
 principal population of the New World came from the iflands of the South 
 Sea. This 1 am able to prove by a multitude of monuments ftill exifting, 
 and to the moft remarkable of which I fhall confine myfelf. It is demon- 
 ftrated, then, by the worlhip of the Sun, eftablilhcd in India, in the iflands 
 of the South Sea, and in Peru, as well as by the title of Suns, or Children of 
 the Sun, affumed by many families of thofe countries ; by the traditions of 
 the Caraibs fcattered over the Antilles, and in Brafil, who give themlelves 
 out as originally from Peru ; by the very eftablifhmcnt of that Monarchy of 
 Peru, as well as that of Mexico, fituated on the weftcrn coaft of America, 
 which looks toward the iflands of the South Sea, and by the populoufnefs of 
 their Nations, which were much more confiderable, and more poliflied 
 than thofe which inhabited the eaftern coafts, which fuppofcs the former to 
 be of a much higher antiquity ; by the prodigious diffufion of the Taitian 
 language, the dilTerent dialeds of which are fpread over moft of the iflands 
 of the South Sea, and of which words innumerable are to be found in the 
 language of Peru, as has lately been proved by a gentleman of great learn- 
 ing, and even in that of the Malays in Afia, fome of which I myfelf was able 
 to diftinguifli, particularly the word mate which fignifies to kill ; by the 
 praftices common and peculiar to the Nations of the Penlnfula of Malacca, 
 of the iflands of Afia, of thofe of the South Sea and of Brafil, which are not 
 the infpiratioi4 of Nature, fuch as that of making fermented and intoxicat- 
 ing liauors, and of chewing herbs and roots j by the channels of the com- 
 
2^0 A VINDICATION of 
 
 Mankind, encompalTed with fo many bleflings, contin- 
 ues to be wretched. There is is not a fingle genus of an- 
 imal but what lives in abundance and liberty, the greateft 
 
 ixicrce of antiquity which flowed in this direftion, fuch as that of gold, 
 ■which was very common in Arabia and in the Indies, in the time of the 
 Romans, though there be very few mines of that metal in Afia ; but above 
 all^ by the trade of emeralds, which muft have run in that track from re- 
 mote antiquity, in order to reach the Old Continent, where no mine of 
 that gem is to be found. Hear what is faid on this fubjeft by Tavernier, 
 who is worthy of credit when he fpeaks of the commerce of Afia, ef- 
 pccially as it relates to jewels. ** It is an error of long {landing," fays 
 he ♦' which many perfons have fallen into, to believe that the emerald 
 ** was found originally in the Eaft. Moft jewellers, on firft looking at a 
 ** high coloured emerald, are accuftomed to fay, this is an Oriental emer- 
 •* aid. But they are miftaken, for I am well affured, that the Eaft never 
 ** produced one, either on the Continent, or in its iflands. I have made 
 ** accurate enquiries into this, in all the voyages I made." He had trav- 
 elled fix times by land through India. Hence it muft be concluded, that 
 the fo highly valued emeralds of the ancients, came to them from America, 
 through the iflands of the South Sea, through thofe of Afia, through India, 
 the Red Sea, and, finally, through Egypt, from whence they had them. 
 
 To this may be objcfted the difficulty of navigating againft the regular 
 eafterly winds, in order to pafs from Afia to America, under the Torrid 
 21ooe -, bat, relatively to this fubjeft, I fliall repeat, that the regular winds 
 do not blow there from the Ea,1, but from the Northeaft and Southeaft, 
 and depend fo much the more on the two Poles, the nearer you approach 
 toward the Line, This oblique direftion of the wind was fufficient for 
 perfons who navigated from ifland to ifland, and who bad contrived barks 
 the lead liable to deflcdlion, fuch as the double pros of the Ifles of Guam, 
 the form of which ieems to have been preferved in the double balfes of 
 the coall of Peru. Sckouten found one of thofe double pros failing more 
 than fix hundred leagues from the Ifland of Guam toward America. Be- 
 fides, it appears, likewife, that the South Sea has its monfoons, which have 
 not hitherto been obfcrved. Hear the remarks made, on the variation of 
 thofe winds, by an anonymous Englifh Navigator, who failed round the 
 World, with Sir Jnfeph Banks and Mr. Sdander^ in the years 1768, 1769, 
 l77ofand 1771, page 83. ** The inhabitants of Otaheite, trade with 
 ** thofe of the adjacent iflands which lie to the eaftward, and which we 
 ** had difcovered on our pafl'age. During three months of the year, the 
 ** winds which blow from the Weji quarter are very favourable to them for 
 ** carrying on this traffic." Admiral Anfon likewife met with winds 
 from the Weft, in thofe Latitudes, which retarded him. 
 
 Certain Philofophsrs explain the correfpondencies to be found between 
 the inhabiian'.s of the iilands and thofe of Continents, by fuppofing ifiaad? 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 121 
 
 part without labour, all at peace with their fpecies, all u- 
 tiited to the objefts of their choice, and enjoying the 
 felicity of reperpetuating themfelves by their families ; 
 whereas more than the half of Mankind is doomed to cel- 
 ibacy. The other half curfes the bands which have match- 
 ed him. The greater part tremble at the thought of rear- 
 ing a progeny, under the apprehenfion of being incapable 
 to find fubfiftence for them. The greater part, in order 
 to procure fubfiftence for themfelves, are fubje6led to 
 painful labours, and reduced to the condition of flaves to 
 
 to be lands once united to the Continent, but now fwallowed up by the O- 
 cean the fummit only, and a few of the inhabitants upon it, remaining a- 
 bove the water. But enough has been already faid in this Work, to evince 
 that maritime iflands are not fragments feparated from the Continent, and 
 that they have mountains, peaks, lakes, hills, proportionable to their ex- 
 tent, and direftcd to the regular winds which blow over their feas. They 
 have vegetables peculiar to themfelves, and which no where elfe attain the 
 fame de^^ree of beauty. Farther, had thofc iflands formerly conaituted part 
 of our Continent, we fbould find in them all thofe of our quadrupeds which 
 are to be met with in all climates ; there were no rats nor mice in Ameri- 
 ca, and in the Antilles, previous to the arrival of the Europeans, if we may 
 believe the teftimony of the Spanilb Hiftorian Herrera, and of Father d\t 
 Tertre. We (hould, likewife, have found in them the ox, the afs, the cam- 
 el ihchorfe, but they contained none of thefc animals; but plenty of our 
 common poultry, ducks, dogs, fwine, as well as among the Iflanders of the 
 South Sea, who themfelves had no other of our domcftic animals. It is ob- 
 vious that the firft animals, fuch as the horfc arid the cow, being of a bulk 
 attd weight too confiderable, could not poflTibly, be their utility ever fo 
 great, crofs the feas in the fmall canoes of the early Navigators, who, on the 
 other hand, would have been very careful not to tranfport with them fuch 
 vermin as rats and mice. 
 
 Finally, let us revert to the general Laws of Nature. If all the iflands of 
 ibe South Sea once formed a Continent, there muft have been no fea, then, 
 in the fpace which they occupy. Now, it is indubitably certain, that were 
 you, at this day, to take away from around them, the Ocean by wkich they 
 are cncompaflTed, and the regular >^'inds which blow over it, you would blaft 
 them with fterility. The iflands of the South Sea form, between Afia and 
 America, a real bridge of communication, with a few aichcs alone of whith 
 ^^•e are acquainted, and of which it would not be difficult to difcoverihe 
 reft, from the other harmonies of the Globe. But here I reftrain my con- 
 jeftures on this fubjea. I have faid enough to prove, that the fame hand 
 which has covered the Earth with plants and animals for the fcrvice of Maa, 
 hasn6c negleftedthe different parts of his habitation. 
 
 VOL. 11. R r 
 
gM A VINDICATION oi? 
 
 to their fellow creatures. Whole Nations are expofcd t& 
 perifh by famine : Others, deflitute of territory, are piled 
 a top of each other, while the greateft part of the Globe 
 is a wildernefs. 
 
 There are many lands which never have been cultivat- 
 ed ; but there is not one, known to Europeans, which 
 has not been polluted with human blood. The very fol- 
 itudes of the Ocean gulp down into their abyfles, veffels 
 filled with men, funk to the bottom by the hands of men. 
 In cities, to all appearance fo flourifhing by their arts 
 and their monuments, pride and craft, fuperftitian and im- 
 piety, violence and perfidy, are in a ftate of inceffant war- 
 fare, and keep the wretched inhabitants in perpetual a- 
 larm. The more that fociety is poliflied in them, the 
 more numerous and cruel are the evils which opprefs 
 them. Is the induftry of Man there exerted, only becaufe 
 he is there moft miferable? Why (hould the Empire of 
 the Globe have been conferred on the fingle animal which 
 had not the government of its own paflions ? How comes 
 it that Man, feeble and tranfitory, fhould be animated by 
 paffions at once ferocious and generous, defpicable and 
 immortal ? How is it that, born without inflinft, he fliould 
 have been able to acquire fuch various knowledge ? He 
 has happily imitated all the arts of Nature, except that of 
 being happy. All the traditions of the Human Race have 
 prcferved the origin pf thefe ftrange contradictions ; but 
 Religion alone unfolds to us the caufe of them. She in- 
 forms us that Man is of a different arder from the reft of 
 animals ; that his reafon perverted has given offence to 
 the Author of the Univerfe ; that as a juil punifhment, 
 he has been left to the direftion of his own underftand- 
 ing ; that he is capable of forming his reafon only by the 
 iludy of univerfal reafon, difplayed in the Works of Na- 
 ture, and in the hgpes which virtue infpires ; that by fuch 
 means alone he can be enabled to rife above the animal, 
 feeneath the level of which he is funk, and to reafcend, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^^^ 
 
 ikp by ftep, along the fteepy declivity of the celeftial 
 mountain from which he has been precipitated. 
 
 Happy is he, in thefe dajs, who, inftead of ramblincr 
 over the World, can live remote from Mankind ! Happy 
 the man who knows nothing beyond the circumference of 
 his own Horizon, and to whom even the next village is 
 an unknown land ! He has not placed his affeftions on 
 objects which he muft never more behold, nor left his rep- 
 utation at the mercy of the wicked. He believes that in- 
 nocence refides in hamlets, honour in palaces, and virtue 
 in temples. His glory and his religion confift in commu- 
 nicating happinefs to thofe around him. If he beholds 
 not in his garden the fruits of Afia, or the fhady groves of 
 America, he cultivates the plants which delight his wife 
 and children. He has no need of the monuments of Arch- 
 itefture to dignify and embellifli his landfcape. A tree, 
 under the fhade of which a virtuous man is reclined to 
 reft, fuggefts to him fubiime recolleftions ; the poplar 
 in the foreft recals to his mind the combats of Hercules; 
 and the foliage of the oak reminds him of the crowning 
 garlands of the CapitoL 
 
g24 A VINDICATION of 
 
 STUDY ELEVENTH. 
 
 OF SOME MORAL LAWS OF NATURE. 
 
 Weaknefs of Re af on, of Feeling ; Proofs of the Divinity 
 and of the Immortality of the Soul from feeling. 
 
 oUCH are the phyfical proofs of the exiftence of the 
 Deity, as far as the feeblenefs of my reafon has enabled 
 me to produce and arrange them. I have coUefted, pei- 
 haps, ten times as many ; but I perceived that I was, af- 
 ter all, but at the beginning of my career ; that the far- 
 ther I advanced, the farther it extended itfelf before me ; 
 that my own labour would foon overwhelm me; and 
 that, conformably to the idea of Scripture, nothing 
 would remain to me, after a complete furvey of the 
 Works of Creation, but the moft profound aftonifhment. 
 It is one of the great calamities of human life, that in 
 proportion as we approach the fource of truth, it flies a- 
 w ay from before us; and that when, by chance, we are 
 able to catch fom.c of its fmaller ramifications, we are un- 
 able to remain conftantly attached to them. Wherefore 
 has tiie fentiment which yefterday exalted me to Heaven, 
 at fight of a new relation of Nature — wherefore has it dif- 
 appeared to day ? Archimedes did not remain always in an 
 «cftacy, fpom the difcovcry of the relations of metals in 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 325 
 
 the crown of King Hiero. He after that made other dif- 
 <EOverIes more congenial to his mind : Such as that of the 
 cylinder circumfcribed within the fphere, which he o-ave 
 directions to have engraved on his tomb. Pythagoras con- 
 templated, at length, with indifference, the fquare of the 
 hypothenufe, for the difcovery of which he had vowed, 
 it is faid, a whole hecatomb of oxen to Jupiter. I recoi- 
 led that when I firll became mafter of the demonflration 
 of thofe fublimiC truths, I experienced a delight almoft as 
 lively as that of the great men who were the firll: invent- 
 ors of them. Wherefore is it extinguilhed ? V/hy do I 
 this day ftand in need of novelties to procure me pleaf- 
 ure ? The mere animal is, in this refpefi, happier than we 
 are : What pleafed him yefterday will likewife give him 
 pleafure tomorrow : He fixes for himfelf a boundarv, 
 which he never exceeds; whatsis fufficient for him, al- 
 ways appears to him beautiful and good. The ingenious 
 bee conftrufts commodious cells, but never dreams of 
 rearing triumphal arches, or obelifks, to decorate her wax- 
 en city. A cottage was in like manner fufficient for Man, 
 in order to be as well lodged as a bee. What need had he 
 of five orders of Architefture, of pyramids, of towers, of 
 kiofques ?. 
 
 What, then, is that verfatlle faculty, called reafon^ 
 which I employ in obferving Nature ? It is, fay the 
 Schools, a perception of correfpondencies, which eflen- 
 tially diftinguilhes Man from the beaft; Man enjoys rea- 
 fon, and the beaft is governed merely by inftlnft. But if 
 this inftinft .always points out to the animal what is bed 
 adapted to it, it is, therefore, likewife a reafon, and a rea- 
 fon more precious than ours, in as much as it is invaria- 
 ble, and is acquired without the aid of long and painful 
 experience. To this, the Philofophers of the laft age re- 
 plied, that the proof of the want of reafon in bealls is this, 
 that they aft always in the fame manner ; thus they con- 
 cluded, from the very pcrfeftion of their reafon, that they 
 had none. Hence we may ffc to what a GC<Trcc great 
 
326 A VINDICATION of 
 
 names, falaries, and affociations, may give currency to 
 the greatefl abfurdities ; for the argument of thofe Phi» 
 lofophers is a direft attack on the Supreme Intelligence 
 itfelf, which is invariable in its plans, as animals arc in 
 their inftinft. If bees uniformly conftruft their cells of 
 the fame figure, it is becaufe Nature always makes bees of 
 the fame form. 
 
 I do not mean, however, to affirm, that the reafon of 
 beafts and that of Man is the fame : Ours is, without dif- 
 pute, much more extenfive than the inflinft of each ani- 
 mal in particular ; but if Man is endowed with an univer- 
 fal reafon, muft it not be becaufe his wants are univerfal ? 
 He likewife difcerns, it is true, the wants of other ani- 
 mals ; but may it not be relatively to himfelf that he has 
 made this his ftudy ? If the dog gives himfelf no concern 
 about the oats of the horfe, it is, perhaps, becaufe the 
 horfe is not fubfervient to the wants of the dog. 
 
 We pofTefs, notwithftanding, natural adaptations pecu- 
 liar to ourfelves, fuch as the art of agriculture, and the ufe 
 of fire. The knowledge of thefe, undoubtedly, would 
 demonftrate our natural fuperiority, were it not, at the 
 fame time, a proof of our wretchednefs. Animals are un- 
 der no neceffity to kindle fires, and to caft feed into the 
 ground, as they are clothed and fed by the hand of Na- 
 ture ; befides, many of them have, in themfelves, facul- 
 ties far fuperior to our fciences, which are, if the truth 
 were told, foreign to us. If w^e have difcovered fome 
 phofphoric fubllances, the luminous fly of the Tropics 
 has in itfelf a focus of light, which illuminates it during 
 the night. While we are amufing ourfelves in making 
 experiments on electricity, the torpedo is employing it in 
 felf defence : And while the Academies and States of Eu- 
 rope are propofing confiderable prizes to the perfon who 
 fhall difcover the means of determining the Longitude at 
 Sea, the paillencu and the frigat are every day perform- 
 ino- a flight of three or four hundred leagues between the 
 TropicS; from Eaft to Well, without ever failing to find. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE, gey 
 
 in the evening> the rock from which they took, their de- 
 parture in the morning. 
 
 Another mortifying infufficiency prefents itfelf, when 
 Philofophy attempts to employ, in combating the intelli- 
 gence of Nature, that very reafon which can be of no ufe 
 but to difcern it. What plaufible arguments, refpeQing 
 the danger of the paffions, the frivolity of huma'n life, the 
 lofs of fortune, of honour, of children ! You can eafily 
 unhoufe me, divine Marcus Aurelius, and you too, fcep- 
 lical Montagne ; but you have not provided for me anoth- 
 er home. You put the ftaffof Philofophy into my hand, 
 and fay to me, walk on intrepidly ; make the tour of the 
 World, begging your bread ; you are juft as happy as we 
 in our villas, with our wives, and refpefted by ail around. 
 But here is an evil of which you had no forefight. I have 
 received, in my country, calumny only, as the reward of 
 ail my fervices ; I have experienced nothing but ingrati- 
 tude on the part of my friends, and even of my patrons ; 
 I am folitary, and have no longer the means of fubfiftence ; 
 I am a prey to nervous diforders; 1 ftand in need of men, 
 but my foul is troubled at the fight of them, while I re- 
 fie6l on the fatal reafons by which they are united, and 
 that there is no poflibility of interefting them, but by flat- 
 tering their paffions, and by becoming vicious as they are. 
 What good purpofe does it ferve to have ftudied virtue ? 
 It fhudders at fuch recolleclions, and even without any 
 refleftion, merely at the fight of m.en. The firft thing 
 that fails me is that very reafon, on which you defire mc 
 to lean forfupport. All your fine logicks vaniih, precifely 
 at the moment when I have mo ft need of them. Put a 
 reed into the hand of a fick perfon : The very firft thing 
 that will drop from him, when attacked by a fit of illnefs, 
 is that fame reed ; and if he ventures to reft his whole 
 weight upon it, moft probably it will break, and, perhaps 
 run through his hand. Death, you tell me, will cure 
 every thing ; but in order to die, I have no occafion 
 for all this reafoning ; befides I do not drop, with the 
 
328 A VINDICATION of 
 
 vigor of life, into the arms of death, but dying and reafoil- 
 ing no longer, ftill, however, feeling and fuffering:* 
 
 What is, once more, that reafon, of which we boaft (6 
 triumphantly ? As it is nothing more than the relation of 
 6bje6is to our wants, it is reduced, then, to mere perfonal 
 intercft. Hence it is that we have fo many family reafons, 
 reafons of aflbciations, reafons of ftatCj reafons of all 
 countries, and of all ages : Hence it is, that the reafon of 
 a young man is one thing, and that of an old man anoth- 
 er ; that the reafon of a woman differs from that of a her- 
 mit, and a foldier's from a prieft's. Every body, fays 
 the Duke de la Rochefoucault, has reafon (is in the right.) 
 Yes, undoubtedly, and it is becaufe every one has reafon, 
 that no one agrees with another. 
 
 * Thus, Religion has greatly the fuperiority over Philofophy, in' as 
 much as it fiippoits us, not by our reafon, but by our refignation. She 
 would have us, not on foot, and ftirring about,— bat ftretched on a bed ot 
 languifhing : Not on the theatre of the World, but rcpofing at the fooi- 
 flool of the Throne of God ; not tormented with folicitude about futurity, 
 Irjt confident and compofed. When books, honours, fortune and friends 
 forfake us, (he prcfents us, as a pillow for our head, not the recolledion of 
 cur frivolous and theatrical virtues, but that of our infufficiency; and in- 
 Uead of the arrogant maxims of Philofophy, fhe demands of us only calm- 
 Bcls, peace and filial confidence. 
 
 I muft make one rcllcftion more refpefling this reafon, or, which a- 
 mounts to the fame thing, refpefting this ingenuity of which we are fo 
 vain : Namely this, that it appears to be the refult of our mifcries. It is 
 very remarkable, that the Nations which have been moft celebrated for 
 their wit, their arts and their induftry, were the mofl mifcrable on the face 
 of the Earth, fiom their government, ihelr pafTiens, or their difcords. Read 
 the hiflory of the lives of moll men who have been dillinguilhed by the fu- 
 periority of thfir intellcftual powers, and you will find that they were ex- 
 tremely mifcrable, efpecially in their childhood. One eyed perfons, the 
 lame, tlie huinp backed have, in general, more wit than other men, be- 
 caufe, froni being mor^ difogreeably conformed, they apply their reafon- 
 ing powers toward obferving with more attention the relations of Society, 
 in the view of fcreening themfches againR its opprefTion. Their humour, 
 it is true, is commonly of the farcaft:ic kind, but this character is fufhcicntly 
 applicable to what padcs in the World for wit. Befides, it was^not Na- 
 turc which rendered them malignant, but the raillery, or the contempt, of 
 ihofe wiih whom thcv have lived. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 3^9 
 
 This fublime faculty farther undergoes, from the firft 
 ttioments of its expanfion, a fhock fo violent, that it is 
 rendered, in fome fort, incapable of penetrating into the 
 field of Nature. 1 do not fpeak of our methods and fyf- 
 tems, which dilFufe falfe lights over the firft principles of 
 human knowledge, by (hewing us truth only in books, in- 
 volved in machinery, and difplayed on theatres. I have 
 faid fomething of thofe obftacles, in the objeftions which 
 I have ventured to propofe againft the elements of our 
 Sciences ; but the maxims inftilled into us from our ear- 
 lieft infancy, make a fortune, be the firft, are alone fuf- 
 ficient to fubvert our natural rcafon ; they exhibit to us 
 the juft and the unjuft, only as they fland related to our 
 perfonal interefts, and to our ambition ; they ufually at- 
 tach us to the fortune of fome powerful and reputable 
 corps, and render us, as it ma^ happen, atheifts or devotees, 
 debauched or continent, Cartefians or Newtonians, juft as 
 it afFefts the caufe which has become our only moving 
 principle. 
 
 Good caufe, then, we have to miftruft reafon, as, from 
 the very firft ftep, it mifleads us in our refearches after 
 truth and happinefs. Let us enquire, whether there is 
 not in man fome faculty more noble, more invariable, and 
 of greater extent. Though, in profecuting this enquiry, 
 1 have to prefent only views vague and indeterminate, I 
 hope that men more enlightened than 1 can pretend to be, 
 may one day fix them, and carry them much farther. In 
 this confidence, with the feeble powers which I polFefs, I 
 am going to engage in a career, well worthy of the Read- 
 er's moft ferious attention. 
 
 Defcartes lays this down as the bafis of the firft natural 
 truths : / think, therefore I exifl. As this Philofopher 
 has acquired a very high degree of reputation, which he 
 merited, befides, by his knowledge in Geometry, and a- 
 bove all, by his virtues, his argument in proof ofexiftencc 
 has been greatly extolled, and dignified with the title of 
 axiom. But, if I am not miftaken, this argument labours 
 VOL. II. s f 
 
330 A VINDICATION of 
 
 under an eflential defeft, in that it has not the generality 
 of a fundamental principle ; for it implicitly follows, that 
 when a man does not think, he ceafes to exift, or, at leaft, 
 to ha\c a proof of his exiflence. It follows farther, that 
 the animal creation, to which Defcartcs denied the power 
 of thought, had no proof that they exifted ; and that the 
 greateft part of beings are in a (late of nonexiftence with 
 refpecl to us, in as much as they excite in us fimple fen- 
 fations merely, of forms, of colours, and of movements, 
 without any reference to thought. Befides, the refults of 
 human thought having been frequently employed, from 
 their verfatillty, to fugged doubts refpefting the exiftence 
 of God, and even of our own, as was the cafe with the 
 fccptic Pyrrho ; this reafoning, like all the operations of 
 ihe human underflanding, falls under well grounded fuf- 
 picion. 
 
 I fubflitute, therefore, in place of the argument of Def- 
 cartss, that -svhich folloVs, as it appears to me both more 
 fimple and more general : Ifiel, therefore I exijl. It ex- 
 tends to all our phyfical fenfations, which admonifh us 
 Tnuch more frequently of our exiflence than thought does. 
 It has for its moving principle an unknown faculty of the 
 foul, which I call fentiment^ or mental feeling, to which 
 thought itfclf mud refer; for the evidence to which we 
 attempt to fubjctt all the operations of our reafon, is itfelf 
 rimply.fentiment. 
 
 1 fhali firft, make it appear, that this myfterious faculty 
 differs cITentially from phyfical fenfations, and from the 
 relations prcfentcd to us by reafon, and that it blends it- 
 felf in a maimer conftant and invariable in every thing 
 that we do \ fo that it is, if I may be allowed the expref- 
 iion, human inftinft. 
 
 As to the difference of fentiment from phyfical fenfa- 
 tion, it is evident, that Jphigema at the altar gives us an 
 imprefiion of a very different nature from that produced 
 by the lalle of a fruit, or by the perfume of a flower ; and 
 as to that which diflinguifhcs it from a proccfs of the un- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 331 
 
 derftanding, it is certain that the tears and the defpair of 
 Clytemnejlra excite in us emotions ot a very different kind 
 from thofe fuggefted by a fatyr, a comedy, or even, if you 
 will, by a mathematical demonftration. 
 
 Not but that reafon may fometimes ilTue in feniimen^, 
 when it prefents itfelt with evidence ; but the one is only, 
 with relation to the other, what the eye is with relation 
 to the body, that is, an intelleftual vifion : Befides, men- 
 tal feeling appears to me to be the refult of Liws of Na- 
 ture, as reafon is the refult of political Laws. 
 
 I fliall give no farther definition of this obfcurc princi- 
 ple, but I fhall render it fufficiently intelligible, if I am 
 fo happy as to make it felt. And here I flatter myfclf 
 with fuccefs, by firft flating an opposition between it and 
 reafon. It is very remarkable that women, who are al- 
 ways nearer to Nature, from their very irregularities, than 
 men with their pretended wifdora, never confound thefe 
 two faculties, and diftinguifh the firft by the name of fen- 
 fibility, or fentiment, by way of excellence, becaufe it is, 
 in truth, the fource of our moft delicious afFeftions. They 
 are continually on their guard againft confounding, as raoll 
 men do, the underflanding and the heart, reafon and fenti- 
 ment. The one, as we have feen, is frequently our work ; 
 the other is ahvays the work of Nature. They differ fo 
 eflentially from each other, that if you wifh to annihilate 
 the intereft of a Work which abounds in fentiment, you 
 have only to introduce an infufion of rcafoning. 
 
 This is a fault which the moft celebrated Writers have 
 committed, in all the ages in which Society comnlctes its 
 reparation from Nature. Reafon produces manv men gi' 
 intelligence in ages pretendedly poliflied ; and fentiment, 
 men of genius, in ages pretendedly barbarous. Reafon 
 varies from age to age, and fentiment is always the fame. 
 The errors of reafon are local and changeable, but the 
 truths of fentiment are invariable and univerfal. Reafon 
 makes the I Greek, the I Englilhman, the I Turk ; and 
 fentiment, the I Man, and the I Divine. Wc ifand in 
 need, at this day, of commentaries, in order to underftanai 
 
338 A VINDICATION of 
 
 the books of antiquity, which are the works of reafpri, 
 fuch as thofe of moft Hiftorians, and Poets, fatyrical and 
 comic, as Martial, Platitus, Juvenal, and even thofe of 
 the paft age, as Boileau and Moliere ; but none will ever 
 be neceflary, in order to be moved by the fupplications 
 of Priam at the feet of Achilles, by the defpair of Dido, 
 by the tragedies of Racine, and the lively fables of La Fon- 
 taine. We frequently ftand in need of many corabina- 
 Vtions, for the purpofe of bringing to light fome concealed 
 reafon of Nature ; but the fimple and pure fentiments of 
 repofe, of peace, of gentle melanchaly, which fhe infpires, 
 come to us without effort. 
 
 Reafon, I grant, procures for us pleafures of a certain 
 kind ; but if fhe difcovers to us fome fmall portion of 
 the order of the Uwiverfe, fhe exhibits to us, at the fame 
 time, our own deftru6tion, attached to the Laws of its pref- 
 ervation ; fhe prefents to us, at once, the evils which are 
 paft, and thofe which are to come ; fhe furnifhes arms to 
 pur pafTions, at the very time when fhe is demonflrating 
 to us their infufficiency. The farther that fhe carries us, 
 the more are the proofs which fhe accumulates, when we 
 come back to ourfelves, of our own nothingnefs ; and, fo 
 far from foothing our pains by her refearches, fhe fre- 
 quently aggravates them bitterly by the difcoveries which 
 fhe. makes. Sentiment, on the contrary, blind in its de- 
 fires, embraces the monuments of all countries, and of 
 all ages ; it is foothed to a delicious complacency, in the 
 midfl of ruins, of combats, and of death itfelf, in con- 
 templating an undefcribable eternal exiflence ; it purfucs, 
 in all its appetites, the attributes of Deity, infinity, extcn- 
 fion, duration, power, grandeur and glory ; it mingles the 
 ardent defires of thefe with all our pafTions ; it thus com- 
 municates to them a certain fublime impulfe ; and, by fub- 
 duing our reafon, itfelf becomes the moft noble, and the 
 moft delicious inftinft of human life. 
 
 Sentiment demonftrates to us, much better than reafon, 
 the fpirituality of the foul ; for reafon frequently pro- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 333 
 
 pofes to us, as an end, the gratification of our groflcife 
 paflTions,* whereas fentiment is ever pure in its propenG- 
 ties. Befides, a great many natural effefts wliich efcape 
 the one, are under the control oF the other ; fuch is, as 
 has been obferved, evidence itfelf, which is merely a mat- 
 ter of feeling, and over which refleftion exerciies no con- 
 ftraint; fuch, too, is our own exiftence. The proof of 
 it is not in the province of reafon ; for, Vv^hy is it that I 
 exift ? Where is the reafon of it ? But I feel that I ex- 
 ift, and this fentiment is fufficient to produce conviction. 
 This being laid down, I proceed to demon (Irate, tli^t 
 there are two powersf in Man, the one animal, and the 
 
 * Liften to the voice of reafon, is the incefTsnt acJmonition of our moral 
 Philofophcrs. But do they not perceive that they are putting us into the 
 hand of our greateft enemy ? Has not every paflion a rcaCon at command ? 
 
 ■{• It is from want of attention to thoCe t\vo povi-ers, that fo many celebrat- 
 ed performances, on the fubjrft of Man, prefent a falfe colouring. Their 
 Authors fometimes reprefent him to us as a mctaphyfical objeft. You 
 ■would be tempted to think, tlvat the phyfical wants, which fiagger even the 
 Saints, are only feeble accedories of human life. They compofe it merely 
 of monads, of abftraftions, and of moralities. Others difcern nothing iu 
 man but on animal, and diftinguifh in him only the coarfeft grofTnefs o£ 
 fcnfe. They never ftudy him without the differing knife in their hand, 
 and whea he is dead, that is to fay, v.hen he is man no longer. Others 
 know him only as a political individual : They perceive him only througli 
 the medium of the correfpondencics of ambition. It is not Man that in- 
 tcrefts them ; it is a Frenchman, an Englifliman, a Prelate, a Gentlenaaii. 
 Homer is the only Writ-.r, with wliom I am acquainted, who has painted 
 Man complete : All others, the beft not excepted, prefent nothing but a 
 flieleton of him. The Iliad of Homsr, if I may be allowed to judge, is the 
 paintingpf every Man, as it is that of all ?Cature. All the pafTions are there, 
 with their contrails and their (hades, the mod inrelleftually refined, and 
 the moft fenfually grof^. Achilles fings the praifes of the Gods to the found 
 of his lyre, and tends the cookery of a leg of mutton in a kettle. This lall 
 trait has given grievous offence to our theatrical v/riteis, who deal in tho 
 compofition of artificial heroes, namely, fuch as difguife and conceal tlveir 
 Jird wants, as their authors themfelves difguife their own to Society. All 
 the palTions of the human breafl are to be found in the Iliad : Furious 
 wrath in Achilkf, haughty ambition in Agarnemnon, patriotic valour in Hec- 
 tor-^ in Nefior, unimpafTioned wifdom ; in Ulyffes, crafty prudence ; calum- 
 ny in Therfites ; voluptuoufnefs in Paris ; failhlefs love in Helen ; conju- 
 j|al love in Atidrer^acke \ paternal affcftion in P'tam; fricndfnip in Fct)c- 
 
334 A VINDICATION of 
 
 other intelleftual, both of an oppofite nature, and whicli, 
 by their union, conftitute human life; juft as the harmo- 
 ny of every thing on the Earth is compofed of two con- 
 traries. 
 
 clus ; and fo on : And bcfidcs all this, a multitude of intermediate fhadcs 
 of all thcfc palTions, fuch as the inconfidtrate courage of Diomedes, and that 
 of .^jax, who dared to challenge the Gods ihemfelves to the combat : Then 
 the oppofitions of fituation and of fortune which detach thofe charafters ; 
 fuch as « wedding, and a country fcftival, depifted on the formidable buck- 
 ler of Achilles ; the rcmorfe of Helen, and the reftlefs fclicitude of Androm- 
 ache; the flight of Heflor^ on the point ofperifhing under the walls of 
 his native city, in the Hght of his people whofe only defender he was; and 
 the peaceful objefts prcfented to him at that tremendous moment, fuch as 
 the grove of trees, and the fountain to which the Trojan young women 
 were accuftomed to refort, to wa{h their robes, and where they loved to af- 
 femble in happier days. 
 
 This divine Genius, having appropriated to his heroes a leading paflion 
 of the human heart, and having put it in aftion in the moft remarkable 
 phafes of human life, has allotted, in like manner, the attributes of Gob 
 to a variety of Divinities, and has afTigned to them the diffeicnt kingdoms 
 of Nature; to Neptune, the Ocean ; to Piute, the infernal regions; to Juno^ 
 the air; to Vulcav, the fire ; to Diana, the forefts j to Pan, the flocks ; in a 
 word, the Nymphs, the Naiads, nay, the very Hours, have all a certain de- 
 partment on the Earth. There is not a fingle flower but what is committed 
 to the fuperintendancc of fome Deity. It is thus that he has contrived to 
 render tnc habitation of Man celeftial. His Work is the moft fublime of 
 Encyclopedias. All the chara61ers of it are fo exaftly in the human heart, 
 and in Nature, that the names by which he has dcfigncd them have become 
 immortal. Add to the roajelty of his plans a truth of expreflTion, which is 
 not to be afcribed alone to the beauty of his language, as certain Giamma- 
 rians pretend, but to the vaft extent of his obfervation of Nature. It is 
 thus, for example, that he calls the Sea impurpled, at the moment that the 
 Sun is fctting ; becaufe that then the reflexes of the Sun in the Horizon ren- 
 der it of that colour, as I myfelf liave frequently remarked. Virgil, y,'ho 
 has imitated him clofely, abounds in thcfc beauties of obfervation, to which 
 Commentators pay very little, if any, attention. In the Gcorgics, for in- 
 flance, Virgil gives to the Spring the epithet of blvjhing ; vcre rubenti, fays 
 he. As his tranflacors and commentators have taken no pains to convey 
 this, any more than a multitude of fimilar touches, I was long impreffed 
 with the belief ihat this epithet was introduced merely to fill up the meaf- 
 ure of the vcrfe : But having remarked that, early in the Spring, the 
 flioots and bi<ds of moft trees affumcd a ruddy appearance, previoufly to 
 throwing out their leaves, I thence was enabled to comprehend what was 
 the prccife moment of the ftafen which the Pcct intended to defcribe by 
 vere rubenti. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 335 
 
 Certain Philofophers have taken pleafure in painting 
 Man as a God. His attitude, they tell us, is that of com- 
 mand. But, in order to his having the air of command, 
 it is neceflary that other men fhould have that of fubmif- 
 fjon, without which be would find an enemy in every 
 one of his equals. The natural empire of Man extends 
 only to animals ; and in the wars which he wages with 
 them, or in the care which he exercifes over them, he is 
 frequently conftrained to drop his attitude of emperor, 
 and to alTume that of a flave. 
 
 Others reprefent Man as the perpetual obje£l of ven- 
 geance to angry Heaven, and have accumulated on his 
 exillence, all the miferies which can render it odious to 
 him. This is not painting Man. He is not formed of a 
 fimple nature, like other animals, each fpecies of which 
 invariably preferves its proper charafter ; but of two op- 
 pofite natures, each of which is itfelf farther fubdivided 
 into feveral pafTions, which form a contraft. In virtue 
 of one of thefe natures, he unites, in himfelf, all the wants, 
 and all the pafTions of animals ; and in virtue of the oth- 
 er, the ineffable fentiments of the Deity. It is to this lafl 
 inflinft, much more than to his refleftive powers, that 
 he is indebted for the conviftion which he has of the ex- 
 illence of God ; for I fuppofe, that having, by means of 
 his reafon, the, faculty of perceiving the correfpondencies 
 which cxifl between theobjefts of Nature, he found out 
 the relations which fubfifl between an ifland and a tree, a 
 tree and a fruit, a fruit and his own wants ; he would 
 readily feel himfelf determined, on feeing an ifland, to 
 look for food upon it : But his reafon, in fliewing him 
 the links of four natural harmonies, would not refer the 
 caufe of them to an invifible Author, unlefs he had the 
 fentiment of it deeply impreffed on his heart. It would 
 flop fhort at the point where his perceptions flopped, and 
 where thofe of animals terminate. A wolf which fhould 
 fwim over a river, in order to reach an ifland on which 
 iie perceived grafs growing, in the hope of there finding 
 
33^^ 
 
 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 fheep likewife, has an equal conception of the links which 
 conne6l the four natural relations of the iflarid, the grafs, 
 the (heep, and his own appetite : But he falls not down 
 pro (Irate before the intelligent Being- who has eftablilhed 
 them. 
 
 Confidcring Man as an animal, I know of no one to be 
 compared with him in refpecl; of wretchednefs. Firfl of 
 all, he is naked, expofed to infers, to the wind, to the 
 rain, to the heat, to the cold and laid under the neceflity, 
 in all countries, of finding himfelf clothing. If his fkin 
 acquires, in time, fufficient hardnefs to refill the attacks 
 of the elements, it is not till after cruel experiments, 
 which fom.etimes flay him from top to toe. He knows 
 nothing naturally, as other animals do. If he wants to 
 crofs a river, he muft firfl: learn to fwim ; nay, he muft, in 
 Iiis^ infancy, be taught to walk and to fpeak.* There is 
 TiO country fo happily fituated, in which ht is not obliged 
 to prepare his food with confiderable care and trouble. 
 The banana and the bread fruit tree give him between the 
 Tropics, provifions ail the year round ; but then he muft 
 plant thofe trees, he muft encloie them within thorny 
 fences, to prefcrvc them from the beafts ; he muft dry 
 part of the fruits, for a fupply during the hurricane fea- 
 Ion ; and muft build rcpofitories in which to lay them up. 
 Bcfides, thofe ufeful vegetables are referved for certain 
 privileged iflands alone; for over the reft of the Earth, 
 the culture ol alimentary grains and roots requires a great 
 multitude of arts and preparations. Suppofe liim to have 
 collected around him every blefTmg his heart can defire, 
 the love and the pleafure which flow from abundance, 
 avarice, thieves, the incurfions of the enemy, diflurb his 
 enjoyment. He muft have laws, judges, magazines, 
 fortrcffes, confederacies and regiments, to prote6l from 
 Without, and from within, his ill fated cornfield. Finally, 
 
 * The very name of infant is derived from the Latin word itif^ns^ that is 
 to fay CDC who caunot fpcak. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 337 
 
 when it is in his power to enjoy with all the tranquillity 
 of a fage, languor takes poffeflTion of his mind ; he muft 
 have comedies, balls, mafquerades, amufements to prevent 
 him from reafoning with himfelf. 
 
 It is impofTible to conceive how a Nation could exift 
 with the animal paflions fimply. The fentiments of nat- 
 ural juftice, which are the bafis of legiflation, are not the 
 refults of our mutual wants, as has been by fome pretend- 
 ed. Our paflions are not retrogreflive ; they have our- 
 felvcs alone for their centre. A family of favages, living 
 in the midft of plenty, would be no more concerned a- 
 bout the mifery of their neighbours perifliing for want, 
 than we concern ourfelves at Paris, that our fugar and cof- 
 fee are cofting Africa rivers of tears. 
 
 Reafon itfelf, united to the paflions, would only ftimu- 
 late their ferocity ; for it would fupply them with new 
 arguments, long after their defires were gratified. It is, 
 in moft men, nothing more than the relation between be- 
 ings and their wants, that is, their perfonal interefl;. Let 
 us examine the effeft of it, combined with love and ambi- 
 tion, the two tyrants of human life. 
 
 Let us firft fuppofe a ftate entirely governed by Love, 
 fuch as that on the banks of the Lignon, imagined by the 
 ingenious d'Urfeius. I beg leave to aflc, Who would be at 
 the trouble of building houfes there, and of labouring the 
 ground ? Muft we not fuppofe, that fuch a country would 
 contain fervants, whofe induftry fhould compenfate the i- 
 dlenefs of their mafters ? Will not thefe fervants be re- 
 duced to the neceflity of abftaining from making love, in 
 order that their mafters may be inceflantly employed in 
 it ? Befidcs, In what manner are the old people of both 
 fexes to pafs their time ? A fine fpeftacle for them truly, 
 to behold their children always indulging in the dalliance 
 of the tender paflion ! Would not fuch a fpeftacle become 
 to them a perpetual fource of regret, of ill humour, of 
 jealoufy, as it is among thofe of our own countjy ? Such 
 a government, in truth, were it even in the iflands of the 
 
 VOL. II. T t 
 
338 
 
 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 South Sea, under the groves of the cocoa and bread fruit 
 tfees, where there was nothing to do but to eat and make 
 love, would foon be torn with difcord, and opprefled with 
 languor. 
 
 But, on the fuppofition that the principle o\ facial rea- 
 fon were to oblige every family to labour each for its ow^n 
 fupport, and to introduce more variety into their way of 
 living, by inviting to it our arts and fciences ; it would 
 quickly accelerate their deftruftion. We muft by no 
 means depend on ever hearing there any of thofe afFefting 
 dialogues which d'Urfeius puts into the mouth of AJlraci 
 and Celadon ; they are di6lated neither by animal love, 
 nor by enlightened reafon. Both of thefe employ a very 
 different logic* When a lover, illuminated there with 
 the fcience which he had borrowed of us, wilhed to in- 
 fpire his miftrefs with a mutual paflion, if, however, it 
 were needful to employ difcourfe in order to accomplilh 
 this, he would talk to her of fprings, of maffes, of attrac- 
 tions, of fermentations, of the ele6lric fpark, and of the 
 other phyfical caufes which determine, according to our 
 modern fyftems, the propenfities of the two fexes, and the 
 movements of the palTions. Political reafons would in- 
 terpofe, and affix the feal to their union, by ftipulating, 
 in the melancholy and mercenary language of our con- 
 trafts, for dowries, maintenances, redemptions, pin mon- 
 ies, pofl; obits. But \ht perfonal reafon of each contrafting 
 party would quickly feparate them. As foon as a man 
 faw his wife overtaken with difeafe, he would fay to her : 
 " My temperament calls for a wife who enjoys health, 
 " and conftrains me to abandon you." She would an- 
 fwer him, undoubtedly, in order to preferve confiftency : 
 " You do well to obey the diftates of Nature. I 
 '' fhould, in like manner, have looked out for another 
 *' hufband, had you been in my place." A fon would 
 fay to his aged and declining father : " You begot me for 
 " your pleafure, it is time that I fhould live for mine." 
 Where fhould we find citizens difpofed to unite for main- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 339 
 
 taining the laws of fuch a Society ; the foldiers difpofed 
 to meet death in defence of it, and the magi Urate who 
 would undertake to govern it ? I fay nothing of an infi- 
 nite number of other diforders, which iollow in the train 
 of that blind and headftrong paflion, even when direfted 
 by cool and difpaflionate reafon. 
 
 If, on the other hand, a Nation were under the domin- 
 ion of ambition folely, it would come ftill fooner to dc- 
 Ilruftion ; either from external enemies, or by means of 
 its own citizens. It is, firft, difficult to imagine how it 
 could be reduced to form, under the authority of one Le- 
 giflator ; for, How can we conceive the pofhbility of am- 
 bitious men voluntarily fubmitting to another man ? Thofc 
 who have united them, as Romulus^ Mahomet, and all 
 founders of Nations, have commanded attention and obe- 
 dience only by fpeaking in the name of the Deity. But 
 fuppofing this union, by whatever means, accomplifhed, 
 Could fuch an affociation ever be happy ? Let Hiflorians 
 extol conquering Rome ever fo highly. Is it credible that 
 her citizens then deferved the appellation of fortunate ? 
 While they were fpreading terror over the Globe, and 
 caufing floods of tears to flow, Were there at Rome no 
 hearts opprefTed with terror, and no eye overflowing, for 
 the lofs of a fon, of a father, of a hufband, of a lover ? 
 Were the flaves, who conftituted by far the greatefl; part 
 of her inhabitants, w^ere they happy ? Was the General 
 of the Roman army himfelf happy, crowned with laurels 
 as he was, and mounted on a triumphal car, around which, 
 in conformity to a military Law, his own foldiers were 
 fmging fongs, in which his faults were expofed, to pre- 
 vent his waxing proud, and forgetting himfelf ? And 
 when Providence permitted Paulus Emilius to triumph 
 over a King of the Macedonians, and his poor children, 
 who ftretched out their little hands to the Roman People, 
 to excite compaflion, it was fo ordered, that the conquer- 
 or ihould, at that very feafon, fufler the lofs of his own 
 
340 A VINDICATION of 
 
 children, that no one man might be allowed to triumph 
 with impunity over the tears of Mankind. 
 
 This very People, however, fo difpofed to purfue their 
 Gwn glory, through the calamities of others, were obliged, 
 in order to diffemble the horror of it, to veil the tears of 
 the Nations with the intereft of the Gods, as we difguife 
 with fire the flefh of the animals which is to ferve us for 
 food. Rome, following the order of deftiny, was to be- 
 come, at length, the capital of the World. She armed 
 her ambition with a celejlial reajon^ in order to render her 
 victorious over powers the moll formidable, and to curb 
 by means of it the ferocity of her own citizens, by inur- 
 ing them to the praftice of fublime virtue. What would 
 they have become, had they given themfelves up, without 
 reftraint to that furious inllin61 ? They would have refem- 
 bled the favages of America, who burn their enemies a- 
 live, and devour their flefh flill llreaming with blood. 
 This Rome at laff experienced, when her Religion pre- 
 fented no longer any thing to her enlightened inhabitants, 
 except unmeaning imagery. Then were feen the two paf- 
 fions natural to the heart of Man, ambition and love, in- 
 viting to a refidence within her walls, the luxury of Afia, 
 the corruptive arts of Greece, profcriptions, murders, poi- 
 fonings, conflagrations, and giving her up a prey to bar- 
 barous Nations. The Theutates of the Gauls then iflu- 
 ing from the forefts of the North, and arriving at the 
 Capitol, made the Roman Jupittr to tremble in his turn. 
 
 Our reafons of Jiate are, in modern times, lefs fublime, 
 but are not for that lefs fatal to the repofe of Mankind, of 
 which a judgment may be formed by the wars of Europe, 
 which are continually difl;urbing that of the Globe. A 
 Nation delivered up to its paflions, and to fimple reafons 
 of ftate, would fpecdily accumulate upon itfelf all the 
 miferies incident to humanity ; but Providence has im- 
 planted in the breaft of Man a fentiment which ferves as 
 a counterbalance to the weight of thefe, by direfting his 
 de fires far beyond the obje£is of this World ; the fenti- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 341 
 
 ment I mean is that of theexiftence of the Deity. Man 
 is not Man, becaufe he is a reafoning animal, but becaufe 
 he is a religious animal. 
 
 It is remarked by Cicero and Plutarch^ tl^at there was 
 not a fingle people known up to their time, among whom 
 there were no traces of religion to be found. The fenti- 
 ment of Deity is natural to Man. It is that illumina- 
 tion which St. John denominates the true Light, which 
 lighteth every Man that cometh into the IVorlJ. I find 
 great fault with certain modern Authors, and even feme 
 of them MifTionaries, for having alTerted, that certain Na- 
 tions were deftitute of all fenfe of Deity. I'his is, in 
 my apprehenfion, the blacked of calumnies with which a 
 Nation can be branded, becaufe it, of courfe, entirely 
 ftrips them of the exiftence of every virtue ; and if fuch 
 a Nation betrays any appearance of virtue, it can be only 
 under the impulfe of the moft abominable of vices, which 
 is hypocrify : For there can be no virtue dillinfi: from 
 Religion. But there is not a fingle one of thofe incon- 
 fiderate writers, who docs not, at the fame time, himfelf 
 furnifh the means of refuting his own imputation ; for 
 fome of them acknowledge, that thefe very atheiftical Na- 
 tions, on certain days, prefent homage to the Moon ; or 
 that they retire into the woods, to perform certain ceremo- 
 nies, the knowledge of which they carefully conceal from 
 flrangers. 
 
 Father Gobieuy among others, in his liiflory of the 
 Mariannes Iflands, after having affirmed, that their inhab- 
 itants had no knowledge of any Deity, and difcovered not 
 the flightefl idea of Religion, tells us immediately after, 
 that they praftife invocation of the dead, to whom they 
 give the apellation of anitis, whofe fkulls they preferve 
 in their houfes, and to which they afcribe the power of 
 controlling the elements, of clianging the feafons, and of 
 refloring health : That they are perfuaded of the immor- 
 tality of the foul, and acknowledge a Paradife ajid a Hell. 
 
34« 
 
 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 Such opinions cleaily deraonftrate that they have ideas of 
 Deity. 
 
 All Nations have the fentiment of the exiftence of God ; 
 not that they all raife themfelves to Him, after the man- 
 ner of a Newton and a Socrates^ in contemplation of the 
 general harmony of his Works, but by dwelling on thofe 
 of his benefits which intereft them the moft. The Indian of 
 Peru worfhips the Sun; he of Bengal, the Ganges, which 
 fertilizes his plains ; the black lolof, the Ocean which 
 cools his Chores : The Samoi'ede of the North, the rein- 
 deer which feeds him. The wandering Iroquois demands 
 of the Spirits, which prefide over the lakes and the for- 
 efts, plentiful fifhingand hunting feafons. Many Nations 
 worfhip their Kings. There is not one of them which, in 
 order to render more dear to men thofe auguft difpenfers 
 of their felicity, have not called in the intervention of 
 fome Divinity forthepurpofeof confecrating their origin. 
 Such are, in general, the Gods of the Nations : But when 
 the pafTions interpofe, and darken among them this divine 
 inftinft, and blend with it either the madnefs of ambition, 
 or the feduftion of voluptuoufnefs, you behold them 
 proftrating themfelves before ferpents, crocodiles, and 
 other gods, too abominable to be mentioned. You be- 
 hold them offering in facrifice, the blood of their enemies 
 and the virginity of their daughters. Such as is the char- 
 acter of a People, fuch is its religion. Man is carried a- 
 long by this celeftial impulfe fo irrefiftibly, that, when he 
 ceafes to take the Deity for his model, he never fails to 
 make one after his own image. 
 
 There are, therefore, two powers in Man, the one ani- 
 mal, the other divine. The firft is inceflantly giving him 
 the fentiment ot his wretchednefs ; the fecond, conllantly 
 awakening in him that of his own excellence : And from 
 their conflicts arc produced the varieties and the contradic- 
 tions of human life. 
 
 3y means of the fentiment of our wretchednefs it is, 
 tliat we become rillve to every thing which prefcnts to i\s 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 343 
 
 the idea of afylum and proteftion, of eafe and accommo-. 
 dation. Hence it is that moft men cherifli the thought 
 of calm retreats, of abundance, and of all the bleflings 
 which bountiful Nature has provided, on the Earth to 
 fupply our wants. It is this fentiment which gave to 
 Love the chains of Hymen, in order that man might one 
 day find the companion of his pains in that of his pleaf- 
 ures ; and that children might be enfured of the affiftancc 
 of their parents. It is this which renders the warm and 
 eafy tradefman fo eager after relations of court intrigues, 
 of battles, and dcfcriptions of tempcfts, becaufe dangers 
 external and diftant increafe internal happinefs and fe- 
 curity. This fentiment frequently mingles with the mor- 
 al affeftions : It looks for fupport in fricndlhip, and for 
 encouragement in commendation. It is this which ren- 
 ders us attentive to the promifes of the ambitious man, 
 when we are eager to follow him, like (laves, feduced by 
 the ideas of proteftion with which he amufes us. Thus 
 the fentiment of our wretchednefs is one of the moft pow- 
 erful bonds of political fociety, though it attaches us to 
 the Earth. 
 
 The fentiment of Deity impels us in a contrary di- 
 reftion.* It was this which condu6Ied Love to the altar, 
 and diftated to the lips of the Lover the firft vows of fi- 
 delity ; it devoted the firft children to Heaven, while as 
 yet there was no fuch thing as political Law ; it render- 
 
 * Whenever any one has loft this firft of harmonies, all the others follow 
 it. Does it not well defcrve to be remarked, that all the Writings of A- 
 theifts are infuffer-ably dry and uuinterefting ? They fometimes fill you 
 ■with aftonifhment, but never do they touch the heart. They exhibit caric- 
 atures only, or gigantic ideas. They afc totally deftitute of order, of pro- 
 portion, of fenfibility. I do not exempt from this cenfure any one, except 
 the poem of Lucretius. But this very exception, as has been faid before, 
 only confirms the truth of my obfcrvation ; for when this Poet wilhcd to 
 pleafe, he found himfclf under the neceftity of introducing Deity, as is evi- 
 dent from his exordium, which commences with that beautiful apoftrophe ; 
 Alma Venus, i3c. Every where elfe, when he fets about a difplay of the 
 Philofophy of £picvrus, his infipidity becomes abfoluiely infupportabie. 
 
344 A VINDICATION of 
 
 ed Love fublime, and Friendfhip generous ; with one 
 hand it fuccoured tlie miferable, and oppofed the other to 
 tyrants ; it became the moving principle of generofity, 
 and of every virtue. Satisfied with the confcioufnefs of 
 having deferved well of Mankind, it nobly difdained the 
 rccompenfe of applaufe. When it fhewed itfelf in arts 
 and fcicnces, it became the ineffable charm which tranf- 
 ported us in contemplating them : The moment it with- 
 drew from them, languor fucceeded. It is this fentiment 
 which confers immortality on the men of genius who dif- 
 cover to us, in Nature, new relations of intelligence. 
 
 When thefe two fentiments happen to crofs each other, 
 that is, when we attach the divine inftinft to perifliable 
 objefls, and the animal inftinft to things divine, our life 
 becomes agitated by contradiftory paffions. This is the 
 caufe of thofe innumerable frivolous hopes and fears with 
 which men are tormented. My fortune is made, fays one, 
 I have enough to laft w.^ forever ; and tomorrow he drops 
 into the grave. How wretched am I ! fays another, I am 
 MW^QXi^ forever ; and death is at the door to deliver him 
 from all his woes. We are bound down to life, faid Mz- 
 chael Montaigne, by the mereft toys ; by a glafs : Yes, 
 and, Wherefore ? Becaufe the fentiment of immortality is 
 impreffed on that glafs. It life and death frequently ap- 
 pear infupportable to men, it is becaufe they affociatc 
 the fentiment of their end with that of death, and the fen- 
 tirhent of infinity with that of life. Mortals, if you wifh to 
 live happy, and to die in compofure, do not let your Laws 
 offer violence to thofe of Nature. Confider, that, at death, 
 all the troubles of the animal come to a period ; the crav- 
 ings of the body,difeafes,perfecutions, calumnies, flavery of 
 every kind, the rude combats of a man's paffions withhim- 
 felf, and with others. Confider, that, at death, all the en- 
 joyments of a moral being commence ; the rewards of 
 virtue, and of the flighted: a6ls of juflice and of humanity, 
 undervalued, perhaps, or defpifed by the World, but 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 343 
 
 Which have, in fome meafure, brought us nearer, while 
 we were upon the Earth, to a Being righteous and eter- 
 nal. 
 
 When thefe two inflinas unite, in the fame place, 
 they confer upon us the higheft pleafure of which our 
 nature is fufceptible ; for, in that cafe, our two natures, 
 if I may thus exprefs myfelf, enjoy -at once.* 1 am going 
 to trace a flight fl^etch of the combination of their-xhar- 
 monies ; after which we fliall purfue the track of the ce- 
 leflial fentiment which is natural to us, as manifefled in 
 our moft ordinary fenfations. 
 
 Let me fuppofe you then. Reader, difgufted, and wea- 
 ried out with the diforders of Society, in fearch of fome 
 happy fpot toward the extremity of Africa, on which the 
 foot of an European never alighted. Sailing along the 
 Mediterranean, your velTel is toffed by the violence of the 
 tempeft, and fliipwrecked upon a rock, juft as it is begin- 
 ning to grow dark. Through the favour of Heaven you 
 fcramble fafe to land : You flee for flicker to a grotto, 
 rendered viflble by the glare of the lightning, at the bot- 
 tom of a little valley. There, retired to the covert of 
 this afylum, you hear, all night long, the thunder roaring 
 and the rain defcending in torrents. At day break, you 
 difcover behind you an amphitheatre of enormous rocks, 
 perpendicularly fteep as a wall. From their bafes, here 
 and there, ftart out clumps of fig trees, covered over with 
 white and purple fruit, and tufts of carobs loaded with 
 brown pods ; their fummits are crowned with pines, wild 
 olive trees and cyprefl'es bending under the violence of 
 the winds. The echoes of thefe rocks repeat, in the air, 
 the confufed howling of the tempeft, and the hoarfe noife 
 
 . * To thefe two inftinfls may be referred all the fenfations of life, which 
 frccuently fecm to be contrad^aory. For example, it habit and novelty be 
 agreeable to us, it is that habit gives us confidence refpeamg our phyfical 
 relations, which are always the fame ; and novelty promifes new points of 
 view to our divine indinft, whxh is ever aiming at the extenfion of us eu. 
 joyments. 
 
 VOL. II. UU 
 
.546 A VINDICATION of 
 
 of the raging Sea, perceptible to the eye at a diftance. 
 But the little valley where you are, is the abode of tran- 
 quillity and repofe. In its mofly declivities the fea lark 
 builds her neft, and on thefe falitary ftrands the mavis ex- 
 perts theceafing of the ftorm. 
 
 By this time the firfl fires of Aurora are lengthening 
 over the flowery ftachys, and the violet beds of thyme 
 which clothe the fwelling hillocks. The brightening rays 
 difclofe to view, on the fummlt of an adjoining eminence, 
 a cottage overfliadowed with trees. Out of it ifTue a fhep- 
 herd, his wife and his daughter, who take the path that 
 leads to the grotto, with vafes and bafkets on their heads. 
 It is the fpe6kcle of your diilrefs which attraBs thefe 
 g<yod people toward you. They are provided with fire, 
 iruits, bread, wine, clothing, for your relief. They vie 
 with each other in rendering you the offices of hofpital- 
 ity. The wants of the body being fatisfied, thofe of the 
 mind begin to call for gratification. Your eye eagerly 
 wanders along the furface of the deep, and you are enquir- 
 ing within yourfclf, '' On what part of the World am I 
 thrown?" The fhepherd perceives your anxiety, and 
 removes it, addreffing you in thefe words : *' That diftant 
 ifland which you fee to the North, Is Mycone. There 
 " is Delos, a little to the left, and Paros diredly in front. 
 '* That in which we are is Naxos ; you are on that very 
 " part of the ifland where Ariadne was formerly abandon- 
 *' ed by Tlujtus. It was on that long bank of white fand, 
 " which projefts below into the Sea, that fhe palfed the 
 *' days, with hcT eyes riveted on that point of the Hori- 
 " zon v/here the velfel of her faithlefs lover at length 
 ceafed to be vifible ; and into this very grotto, where 
 you now are, fhe retired, at night, to mourn over his 
 " departure. To the right, between thefe two little hills, 
 on the top of which you behold fome confufed ruins, 
 flood a flourifhing city, named Naxos. Its female in- 
 hahitants, touched with the misfortunes of the daughter 
 " df Minos, leforted hither, to look for her, and to com- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 34^ 
 
 fort her. They endeavoured, at firft, to divert heY at- 
 tention by amufing converfation ; but nothing could 
 give her plcafure, but the name, and the recollection, 
 of lier beloved Thefeus. Thefe damfels then counter- 
 feited letters from that Hero, breathing the tendereft af- 
 feftion, and addreffed to An^dne. They flew to deliver 
 them to her, and faid, Take comfort, beautiful Ariadne. 
 Thejeus will foon return : Thejeus thinks of nothing 
 but you. Ariadne, in an extacy of delight, read the 
 letters, and, with a trembling hand, haftened to anfwer 
 them. The Naxian girls took charge of her aiifwers, 
 and promifed to have them fpeedily conveyed to The- 
 feus. In this manner they amufed her grief. But when 
 they perceived that the fight of the Sea plunged her 
 more and more into melancholy, they decoyed her into 
 thofe extenfive groves which you obferve below in the 
 plain. There they invented every fpecies of feftivity, 
 that could lull her fond regret to reft. Sometimes they 
 fbrmed around her choral dances, and rcprefented, by 
 the linking of their hands, the various windings of the 
 labyrinth of Crete, out ot which, by her aid, efcaped 
 the happy Thefeus : Sometimes they affeQed to put t© 
 death the terrible Minotaur. The heart of Ariad?ie ex- 
 panded to the perception of joy, at the fight of repre- 
 fcntations which called to her remembrance the power 
 of her father, the glory of her lover and the triumph 
 of her own charms, which had repaired the defliny of 
 Athens : But when the winds conveyed to her ear, 
 through the mufic of the tabor and of the flute, the 
 diftant noife of the billows breaking on the fhore from 
 which Ihe faw the cruel Thefeus take his departure, fhe 
 turned her face toward the Sea, and began to weep. 
 Thus the Naxians were made fenfible, that unfortunate 
 love can find, in the very lap of gaiety, the means of 
 embittering its anguifli ; and that the recolleftion of 
 pain is to be loft, only by lofing that of pleafure. They 
 ^ndv'avoured, therefore, to remove Ariadne from fcenc? 
 
345 A VINDICATION of 
 
 *' and founds which were continually recalling the idea, 
 " of her lover. They perfuaded her to vifit their city, 
 " where they provided for her magnificent banquets, in 
 *' fuperb apartments, raifed on columns of granite. Into 
 thefe, no male was permitted to enter, and no noife 
 from without could make itfelf heard. They had taken 
 care to cover the pavement, the walls, the doors and 
 the windows, with the richeft tapellry, on which were 
 reprefented meadows, vineyards and enchanting foli- 
 tudes. A thoufand lamps and torches dazzled the eye. 
 " They made Ariadne featherfelf in the midflofthem on 
 " cufhions; they placed a coronet of ivy, with its black 
 *' cluflers, upon her ^2Lxen hair and around her pale fore- 
 head ; then they arranged, at her feet, urns of alabafter 
 " replenif]:ied with the choicell wines ; they poured them 
 *' out into cups of gold, which they prefented to her, fay- 
 ing; Drink, lovely daughter of AiZTZ^i; this ifland pro- 
 duces the richeft prefents of Bacchus, Drink, wine 
 " diffipates care. Ariadne, with a fmile, fufFered herfelf 
 " to be perfuaded. In a little time, the rofes of health 
 reappeared on her countenance, and a report was im- 
 " mediately fpread over Naxos, that Bacchus was come 
 ** to the relief of the miHrefs of Thefeus, The inhabit 
 tants, tranfported with joy, reared a temple to that God, 
 of which you ftill fee fomc columns and the frpntif- 
 piece, on that rock, in the midft of the waves. But 
 wine only added fuel to the love of Ariadne. She grad- 
 ually pined away, a vi61im to her fad regrets, and even 
 to her fond hopes. See there, at the extremity of this 
 valley, on a little hillock, covered with marine worm- 
 *' wood, is her tomb, and her ftatue flill looking toward 
 the Sea. You can fcarcely now diftinguifh in it the 
 figure of a female; but there is even now difcernible i^ 
 it the relUefs attitude of a lover. This monument, as 
 well as every other of the country, has been mutilated 
 by tune, and ftill more by the hand of barbarians j but 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 349 
 
 ** the memory of fufFering \'irtue is not, on the Earth, at 
 *' the mercy of tyrants. The tomb ot Ariadne is in pof- 
 ** feflion of the Turks, and her crown is planted among 
 " the liars. As for us, efcaped from the notice of the 
 " powers ot this World, by means of our very obfcurity, 
 " we have, through the goodneis ot Heaven, found liber- 
 *' ty at a dillance from the Great, and happinefs in a def- 
 ** ert. Stranger, if you are flill capable of being afTtcled 
 ** by thebleflings of Nature, it is in your power to Ihare 
 *' them with us." 
 
 At this recital, the gentle tears of humanity trickle 
 down the cheeks of his fpoufe, and of his youthful daugh- 
 ter, as fhe breathes a figh to the memory of Ariadne; and 
 I greatly doubt, whether an Atheifl himfelf, who acknowl- 
 edges nothing elfe in Nature but the Laws of matter and 
 of motion, could be infenfible to thofe prefent correfpond- 
 encies, and thofe ancient recollections. 
 
 Voluptuous men ! Greece alone, you tell me, prefents 
 fcenes and points of view fo tenderly affettmg. Ariadne^ 
 accordingly, has a place in every garden ; Ariadne pre- 
 fents herfelf to view in every colleftion of painting. From 
 the turret of your own caftle, thrgw your eye over the 
 plains below. As the profpeft gradually extends, it ter- 
 minates in a Horizon much more beautiful than thofe §f 
 defolated Greece. Your apartment is more commodioiis 
 than a grotto, and your fophas much fofter than the turf. 
 The undulation, and the murmuring found of your flow- 
 ery m.eadows are more grateful to the fenfe than tliofe of 
 the billows of the Mediterranean. Your money and your 
 own gardens can fupply you with greater variety of the 
 choicell wines and fruits than all the iflands of the Archi- 
 pelago could produce. Vv^ould you blend -with thefe de- 
 lights that of Deity ? Behold on yonder hill, that fm.ail 
 parifh church, encircled by aged elms. Amiong the young 
 wom^en who there affemble, under its ruflic portico, there 
 |r.ay be, undoubtedly, fome forlorn Ariadne, betrayed by 
 
350 A VINDICATION or 
 
 a faithlefs lover.* She is not iPiade of in^ble, but oi' 
 living flefii and blood ; (he is not a Greek, but a French 
 woman; fhe is not comforted, but infultcd by her com- 
 panions. Vifit her humble abode, and foothe lier anguifh. 
 Do good in this life, which is palling away with the ra- 
 pidity of a torrent. Do good, not out of oilentation, and 
 by the hands of a flrangcr ; but for the fake of Heaven, 
 and with your ov.-n hand. The fruit of virtue lofes its 
 flavour, when gathered by another, and not yourfeif. Ah ! 
 if you would, in perfon, {peak an encouraging word to 
 her, under that load of deprefTion ; if, by your fympathy, 
 you raife her in her own efleem, you will perceive how, 
 under a fenfe of your goodnefs, her forehead is over- 
 fpread with a bluih, her eyes fuffufed with tears, her con- 
 vulnve lips move without fpeaking, and her heart, long 
 oppreflcd with fhame, expand to the approach of a com- 
 forter, ^s to the fentiment of the Deity. You will then 
 perceive, in the human figure, touches far beyond the 
 reach of the chifels of Greece, and the pencil of a Van 
 Dyk. The felicity of an unfortunate young woman will 
 
 * There arc, in cur own plains, young females much more refpeftablc 
 tnan Ariadne^ to whom our Hiltorians, who make fuch a parade of virtae, 
 pay no manner of attention. A. perfon of my acquaintance obfervcd one 
 Sunday, at the gate of a country church, a young woman at prayer, quite 
 alone, while they were chanting vefpers within. As he remained fomc 
 time in the place, he obfervcd, for fcverel Sundays fucceflTively, that fame 
 young AVomaii, who never once entered the church during the fervice. 
 Being migi-.tily ftruck. with this rm;5ul3rity of behaviour, he enquired into 
 the meaning of it of fome others of the female peafants, who anfwcred him, 
 that it rsiult be her own will merely that determined her to ftop at the 
 porch, as they knew of nothing that Ihould prevent her going in, adding, 
 that they had frequently ur^cd her to accompany tht-m, but in vain. At 
 laft, defirous of having the foliilion of this myflery, hcaddrelTed himfelf to 
 the young woman herfclf, whofe conduft appeared to him fo very extraor- 
 dinary. She appeared, at fiift, fome-.vhat disconcerted, but prefently col- 
 J-aing courage, '« Sir," fald fiic, " I had a lover who took advantage of 
 •' my frailty. 1 became piegnsnt, and my lover falling fick, died, wiih- 
 «* out making me his wife. It is my dcfirc, that a voluntary exciufion 
 *■• from ch.Mch for life fliould fcrve as fomc atQGcmei»t for my -fault, an(^ 
 *• 2S a v.ainiog to xvi)- ompanions,"' 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 351 
 
 coft you much Icfs than the ftaiuc of Ariadne: And in- 
 ftead of giving celebrity to the name of an artift in your 
 hotel, for a few years, this v;ill immortalize )'our own, 
 and caufe it to laft, long after ycu are gone from hence, 
 every time (he fays to her companions and to her chil- 
 dren : '' It was a God, who came to fuccour me in the 
 *' day of my diflrefs." 
 
 We now proceed to trace the inftinfl of Divinity in 
 our phyhcal fenfations, and fiiail conclude this Study, by 
 the fentiraeats of the foul which are purely intelle6lual. 
 Thus we Ihall attempt to convey a faint idea of the na- 
 ture of Man. 
 
 OF PHYSICAL SENSATIONS. 
 
 All the phyfical fenfations are, in themfelves, {o many 
 teftimonies of our mifery. If man is fo fenfible to the 
 pleafure ot the touch, it is becaufe he is naked all his 
 body over. He is under the neceffity, in order to clothe 
 himfelf, of ftripping the quadruped, the plant, and the 
 worm. If almofi: all vegetables and animals are laid un- 
 der contribution to fupply him with food, it is becaufe he 
 is obliged to employ a great deal of cookery, and many 
 combinations, in preparing-, his aliments. Nature has 
 treated him with much feverity; for he is the only one 
 of animals, for- the wants o-f which flie has made no im- 
 mediate provifion. Our philofophers have not fulhcient- 
 ly reflefted on this perplexing d.'ffin6lion. How ! a 
 Worm provided with its auger or its file; he enters into 
 life in themidfl. of a profufionof fruit proper for his fub- 
 fiflence; he, by and by, finds in himfelf the means of 
 fpinning and weaving his own garment ; after that, he 
 transforms himfelf into a gaudy butterfly, who ranges un- 
 centrolcd, abandcning hii?iffr;lf t« all the delights of iove, 
 
352 A VINDICATION of 
 
 and rep^rpetuating his Ipecies without anxiety and wi^h^ 
 out remorfe ; whereas the fon of a King is born complete- 
 ly naked, amidft tears and groans, Handing in need, all 
 his life long, of the alTiftance of another ; under the ne- 
 ceflity of maintaining an unremitting conflift with his own 
 fpecies, from within, or Irom without, and frequently 
 finding in himfelf his moft formidable enemy ! Of a 
 truth, unlefs we are all the children of dull, it would be 
 a thoufand times better to enter upon exiftence under the 
 form of an infeft, than under that of an Emperor. But 
 Man has been abandoned to the moll abjeft mifery, only 
 that he may have uninterrupted recourfe to the firft of 
 powers. 
 
 Of the Scnfe ofTaJling, 
 
 There is no one phyHcal fenfation but what awakens in 
 Man fome fentiment of the Deity. 
 
 To begin with the grofTeft of all our fenfes, that which 
 relates to eating and drinking; all Nations, in the favage 
 ftate, have entertained the belief that the Divinity had 
 need to fupport his life, by the fame means that men do i 
 Hence, in all religions, the origin of facrifice. Hence, 
 al fo, has larther proceeded, in many Nations, the cuftom 
 of placing viands on the tombs of the dead. The wives 
 of the American favages extend this mark of folicitude 
 even to infants who die upon the hreaft. After having 
 bellowed upon them the rights of fepulture, they come 
 once a day,- for feveral weeks, and prefs from the nipple" 
 a few drops of milk upon the grave of the departed fuck- 
 ling.^ This is pofitively aHirmcd by the Jefuit CharU- 
 i>oix\ who was frequently an eyewitnefs of the fa6l. Thus 
 
 * Sec Father Charlevoix^ Travels tinouiih Ameiica. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 353 
 
 the fentiment of Deity, and that of the immortality of 
 the foul, are interwoven with our afFeftions the mofl: 
 completely animal, and efpecially with maternal tender- 
 He fs. 
 
 But Man has not fatisfied himfelf with admitting intel- 
 leftual beings to a fhare of his repaft, and, in fome meaf- 
 ure, with inviting them to his table ; he has found the 
 means of elevating himfelf to their rank, by the phyfical 
 cfFefts of thofe very aliments. It is fingularly remarka- 
 ble, that feveral Tavage Nations have been difcovered, 
 who fcarcely pofleiTed induftry fufficient to procure food 
 for themfelves ; but not one who had not inventetl the 
 means of getting drunk. Man is the only animal who is 
 fenfible to that pleafure. Other animals are content to 
 remain in their fphere. Man is making perpetual efforts 
 to get out of his. Intoxication elevates the mind. All 
 religious feflivals among Savages, and even among pol- 
 ifhed Nations, end in feafting, in which men drink till 
 reafon is ^one : They begin, it is true, with fading, but 
 intoxication clofes the fcene. Man renounces human 
 reafon, that he may excite in himfelf emotions that are 
 divine. The efFe6l of intoxication is to convey the foul 
 into the bofom of fome deity. You always hear topers 
 celebrating, in their fongs, Bacchus, Mars, Venus, or the 
 God of Love. It is farther very remarkable, that men 
 do not abandon themfelves to blafphemy till they arrive 
 3t a ftate of intoxication ; for it is an inftinft as ufual to 
 the foul, to cleave to the Deity, when it is in its nat- 
 ural ftate, as to abjure Him when it is corrupted by vice. 
 
 Of the Senfc of Smelling. 
 
 The pleafures of fmcU are peculiar to Man; for I d» 
 Hot comprehend under it the olfaftory emanations by 
 yOL, II. WW 
 
us^ 
 
 A VINDICATION Of. 
 
 wiiich he forms a judgment of his aliments, and which 
 are common to him with moft animals. Man alone is 
 fenfible to perfumes, and employs them to give more en- 
 ergy to his pafiions. Mahomet faid, that they elevated 
 his foul to Heaven. Whatever may be in this, the ufe 
 of them has been introduced into all the religious cere- 
 monies, and into the political affemblies, of many Na- 
 tions. The Brafilians, as well as all the Savages of North 
 America, never deliberate on any obje6l of importance, 
 without fmoking tobacco in a calumet. It is from this 
 praftice that the calumet is become, among all thofe Na- 
 tions, the fymbol of peace, of war, of alliance, according 
 to the accefTories with which it is accompanied. 
 
 It is undoubtedly, from the fame cuftom of fmoking, 
 which was common to the Scythians, as Herodotus re- 
 lates, that the caduceus of Mercury^ which has a ftriking 
 refemblance to the calumet of the Americans, and which 
 appears, like it, to have been nothing but a pipe, became 
 the fymbol of commerce. Tobacco increafes, in fome 
 meafure, the powers of the underftanding, by producing 
 a fpecies of intoxication in the nerves of the brain. Lery 
 tells us, that the Brafilians fmoke tobacco till it makes 
 them drunk. It is to be obferved, that thofe nations have 
 found out the moft cephalic plant of the whole vegetable 
 kingdom, and that the ufe of it is the moft univerfally 
 diff'ufed of all thofe which exift on the Globe, the vine 
 and the corn plants not excepted. I have feen it culti- 
 vated in Finland, beyond Yiburg, in about the fixty firft 
 degree of North Latitude. The habit of ufing it becomes 
 fo powerful, that a perfon who has acquired it, will rath- 
 er forego bread, for a day, than his tobacco. This plant 
 is neverthelefs a real poifon ; it affcfts, at length, the 
 olfaftory nerves, and fometimes the fight. But Man is 
 ever difpofed to impair his phyfical conftitution, provid- 
 ed he can ftrengthen in himfelf the intelleftual fcntimcnt. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^55 
 
 Oftkt Senfe of Seeing. 
 
 Every thing that has been faid, in detailing certain gen- 
 eral Laws of Nature, Harmonies, conformities, contrails 
 and oppofitions, refers principally to the fenfe of feemg, 
 I do not fpeak of adaptation, or correfpondence ; for this 
 belongs to the fentiment of reafon, arid is entirely diftinft 
 from matter. The other relations are, in truth, founded 
 on the reafon itfelf of Nature, which communicates delight 
 to us by means of colours and forms generative and 
 generated, and infpires melancholy by thofe which an- 
 nounce decompofition and deftruaion. But, without 
 entering upon that vaft and inexhauftible fubjeft, I Ihall, 
 at prefent, confine myfelf to certain optical effefts, which 
 involuntarily excite in us the fentiment of fome of the 
 attributes of Deity. 
 
 One of the moft obvious caufes of the pleafure which 
 we derive from the fight of a great tree, arifes from the 
 fentiment of infinity kindled in us, by its pyramidical 
 form. The decreafe of its different tiers of branches, and 
 tints of verdure, which are always lighter at the extremi- 
 ties of the tree, than in the reft of its foliage, give it an 
 apparent elevation, which never terminates. We experi- 
 ence the fame fenfations in the horizontal plan of land- 
 fcapes, in which we frequently perceive feveral fucceffive 
 hilly elevations flying away one behind another, till 
 the laft melt away into the Heavens. Nature produces 
 the fame effeR in vaft plains, by means of the vapours 
 which rife from the banks of the lakes, or from the chan- 
 nels of the brooks and rivers that wander through diem ; 
 their contours are multiplied in proportion to the extent 
 of the plain, as I have many a time remarked. Thofe va- 
 pours prefent themfelves dn different plans; fometimes 
 
356 A VINDICATION of 
 
 they ftand Hill, like curtains drawn along the {k'nts oi 
 the foreft ; fometimes they mount into columns over the 
 brooks which meander through the meadows ; fometimes 
 they are quite gray ; at other times they are illumined 
 and penetrated by the rays of the Sun. Under all thefe 
 afpefts, they difplay to us, if 1 may venture to ufe the 
 cxprelTion, feveral perfpeftives of infinity in infinity it- 
 felf. 
 
 I fay nothing of the delightful fpeftacle which the 
 Heavens fometimes prefent to us, in the difpofition of the 
 clouds. I do not know of any Philofopher who has fo 
 much as fufpecled that their beauties were fubjefted to- 
 Law. One thing is certain, namely, that no one animal, 
 which lives in the light, is infenfible to their effefts. I 
 have fpoken, in another place, fomewhat of their charac- 
 ters of amability or terror, which are the fame with thofe 
 of amiable or dangerous animals and vegetables, con- 
 formably to thofe of the days and oi the feafons which 
 they announce. The Laws of them which 1 have fketch- 
 ed, will fuggeft delicious fubjefts of meditation to any 
 perfon difpofed to ftudy them, excepting thofe who are 
 determined to apply the mechanical medium of barome- 
 ters and thermometers. Thefe inftruments are good for 
 nothing but the regulation of the atmofphereof our cham- 
 bers. They too frequently conceal from us the aftion 
 of Nature ; they announce, in moft inflances, the fame 
 temperatures to the days which fet the birds a fingmg, 
 and to thofe which reduce them to filence. The harmo- 
 nies of Heaven are to be felt only by the heart of Man. 
 All Nations, flruck by their ineffable language, raife their 
 hands and their eyes to Heaven, in the involuntary emo- 
 tions of joy or of grief. 
 
 Reafon, however, telis them that God is everywhere. 
 How comes it that no one llretches out his arms toward 
 the Earth, or to the Horizon, in the attitude of invoca- 
 tion ? Whence comes the fentiment which whifpcrs to 
 th^m, God is in Heaven ? Is. it becaufe Heaven is the 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 3^7 
 
 place where light dwells ? Is it becaufe the light itfelf, 
 which difclofes all objefts to us, not being, like our ter- 
 reftrial fubftances, liable to be divided, corrupted, de- 
 Itroyed and confined, feems to prefent fomething celeftial 
 in its fubftance. 
 
 It is to the fentiment of infinity, which the fight of the 
 Heavens infpires, that we muft afcribe the tafte of all Na- 
 tions, for building temples on the fummit of a mountain, 
 and the invincible propenfity which the Jews felt, like 
 other Nations, to worfiiip upon high places. There is 
 not a mountain, all over the iflands of the Archipelago, 
 but what has its church ; nor a hill, in China, but what 
 has its pagoda. If, as fome Philofophers pretend, we 
 never form a judgment of the nature of things, but from 
 the mechanical refults of a comparifon with ourfelves, the 
 elevation of mountains ought to humiliate our infignifi, 
 cance. But the truth is, that thefe fublime objefts, by 
 elevating us toward Heaven, elevate thither the foul of 
 Man, by the fentimeirt of infinity ; and, disjoining us 
 from things terreftrial, waft us to the enjoyment of beau- 
 ties of much longer duration. 
 
 The works of Nature frequently prefent to us feveral 
 kinds of infinity at once : Thus, for example, a great tree, 
 the trunk of which is cavernous, and covered with mofs, 
 conveys to us the fentiment of infinity as to time, as well 
 as that of infinity in point of elevation. It exhibits a 
 monument of ages when we did not exift. Jf to this is 
 added infinity of extenfion, as when wc perceive through 
 its folemn branches, objefts prodigioufly remote, our ven- 
 eration increafes. Go on, and add to all thefe, the dif- 
 ferent ridges of its mafs, in contraft with the profundity 
 of the valleys, and with the level of the plains ; its ven- 
 erable half lights, which oppofe themfelves, and play 
 with the azure of the Heavens ; and the fentiment of our 
 own wretchednefs, which it relieves, by the ideas of the 
 proteftion which it affords in the thicknefs of its trunk, 
 2R3moveable, as the rock and in its auguft fummit, agitated 
 
§58 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 by the winds, the majeftic murmurs of which feem tS 
 fympathize with our diftrefs. A tree, with all thefe 
 harmonies, feems to infpirean inexpreffible religious awe. 
 F/iny fays, in conformity to this idea, that the trees were 
 the firft temples of the Gods. 
 
 The fublime impreflion which they produce, becomes 
 flill more profound, when they recal to us fome fentiment 
 of virtue, fuch as the recolleftion of the great men who 
 planted them, or of thofe whofe tombs they fhade. Of 
 this kind were the oaks of lulus at Troy. It is from an 
 effeft of this fentiment, that the mountains of Greece and 
 Italy appear to us more refpeftable than thofe of the reft 
 of Europe, though they are of no higher antiquity on the 
 Globe, becaufe their monuments, in ruins as they are, 
 call to our remembrance the virtues of the perfons who 
 inhabited them. But this fubjeft belongs not to the pref- 
 ent article. 
 
 In general, the different fenfations of infinity increafe 
 by the contrafts of the phyfical objefts which produce 
 them. Our Painters are not fufficiently attentive to the 
 choice of thofe which they introduce into the fore ground 
 of their pictures. They would give a much more power- 
 ful effeft to their back ground fcenery, if they oppofed to 
 it the frontifpiece, not only in colours and forms, as they 
 fometime do, but in nature. Thus, for example, if the 
 Artift wifhed to communicate an affefting intereft to a 
 cheerful and fmiling landfcape, he would do well to pre- 
 fent it through a magnificent triumphal arch, crumbling 
 into ruin by length of time. On the contrary, a city 
 filled with Tufcan and Egyptian monuments, would have 
 a ftill greater air of antiquity, when viewed from under a 
 bower of verdure and flowers. We ought to imitate Na- 
 ture, who never produces the moft lovely plants, in all. 
 their beauty, fuch as moffes, violets and rofes, but at the 
 foot of ruflic rocks. 
 
 Not that confonances do not likewife produce a very 
 powerful effe61, efpecially when they feem to unite ob- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 35, 
 
 jefts whicli are diflin6l from each other. It is thus, for 
 inftance, that the cupola of the College of the Four Na. 
 tions, prefents a magnificent point of view, when feen 
 ^rom the middle of the court of the Louvre, through the 
 arcade of that palace which is oppofite, for then you 
 view it complete, with a portion of the Heaven under the 
 arch, as if it were a -part of the Louvre. Biit in this very 
 confonance, which gives fuch an extent to our vifion, 
 there is likewife a contrail in the concave form of the ar- 
 cade, with the convex form of the cupola. 
 . The great art of moving is to oppofc fcnfible objefls 
 to intelieftual. The foul, in that cafe, takes a daring 
 foar. It pafles from the vifible to the invifible, and en- 
 joys, if I may be allowed the expreffion, in its own way, 
 by extending itfelf into the unbounded fields of fentiment 
 and of intelligence. Among certain Tartar Tribes, when 
 a great man dies, his groom, after the interment, leads 
 out the horfe which his mafler was accuftomed to ride, 
 places the clothes which he wore on the horfe's back, and 
 walks him, in profound filence, before the afTembly, who, 
 by that fpeftacle, are melted into tears. 
 
 When the fupprefTed circumftances multiply, and u- 
 nite themfelves to fome virtuous affeftion, the emotions 
 of the foul are greatly heightened. Thus when, in the 
 -'Eneid, Juius is promifmg to make prefents to A^i/us and 
 Euryaius, who are going in quefl gf his father to Pa/an^ 
 Uum, he fays to Ni/us : 
 
 * Bina dabo argcnto perfefta atqueafpera fignis 
 Pocula, dcvida genitor qux cepit Arifba ; 
 Et tripodes geminos, auri duo magna talenta, 
 Cratera antiquum quem dat Sidonia Dido. 
 
 A^neii^ Lie, ix. v. 263. 
 * Two filver cups, embofs'd with niceft art, 
 
 ril give, of warlike fpoijs my Father's part, 
 
 When fam'd Arifba fell ; two tripods old ; 
 
 A double talent, too, of purcft gold ; 
 
 Sidonian Dido's gift fhall crown the reft, 
 
 A 'powl antique, oi generous lovc the tcft. 
 
360 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 *' I will prefent you with two filver cups of exquifite 
 " workmanfliip, with curious figures in ako relievo. 
 ** They became my father's property at the capture of A- 
 " rifba. To thefe I will add a pair of twin tripods ; two 
 *' talents of mafly gold ^ and an ancient goblet, a token 
 *' of affeftion from Queen Dido,'' 
 
 He prom^fes to the two youthful friends, united to 
 each other in the tenderefl bonds, double prefents, two cups, 
 two tripods to ferve as Hands for them, after the manner of 
 the ancients, two talents of gold to replenifh them with 
 wine, but only one bowl from which they might drink 
 together. And then, what a bowl ! he boafts neither of 
 the materials of which it is compofed, nor of the work- 
 manfhip, as in the cafe of the other prefents ; he con- 
 ne^s it with moral qualities infinitely more interefting 
 to the heart of iriendfhip. It is antique ; it was not the 
 prize of violence, but the gift of love. lulus, no doubt, 
 received it as a mark of aff"eftion from Dido, when flie 
 confidered herfelf to be the wife of JEneas. 
 
 In all the fcenes of paflion, where the intention is to 
 produce flrong emotions, the more that the principal ob- 
 je6l is circurafcribed, the more extended is the intelleftu- 
 al fentiment refulting from it. Several reafons might be 
 affigncd for this, the mod important of which is, that the 
 ac'ceffory contrails, as thofe of littlenefs and greatnefs, of 
 weakncfs and ftrength, of finite and infinite, concur in 
 heightening the contraft of the fubjeft. When PouJJin 
 conceived the idea ot a pifture of the univerfal deluge, he 
 confined it to the reprcfentation of a fingle family. There 
 you fee an old man on horfeback, on the point of drown- 
 ing ; and in a boat, a man, who is perhaps his fon, pre- 
 fents to his wife, who has made fliift to fcramble up a 
 rock, a little child dreifed in a red petticoat, who, on its 
 part, is making every effort, with its little feet, to get up- 
 on the rock. The back ground of the landfcape is fright- 
 ful from its black melancholy. The herbage and the trees 
 ^re foaked in water, the Earth itfelf is penetrated by it, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 361 
 
 which is rendered #5 fible by that long ferpent, in eager 
 hafte to quit its hole. The torrents are gufhing down on 
 every fide ; the Sun appears in the Heavens like an eye 
 thruft out of its focket : But the moft powerful intereft 
 in the piece bears upon the feebleft objeft : A father and 
 a mother, ready themfelves to perifh, are wholly engrolT- 
 cd in the prefervation of their infant. Every feeling is ex- 
 tinguifhed on the Earth, but maternal tendernefs is ftill a- 
 live. The human race is deftroyed becaufe of its crimes, 
 and innocence is going to be involved in the punifliment. 
 Thefe unreftrained torrents, that deluged Earth, that lurid 
 Atmofphere, that extinguiftied Sun, thofe defolated foli- 
 tudes, that fugitive family, all the efFefts of that univerfal 
 ruin of the World, are wfeolly concentrated in an infant. 
 There is no one, however, who, on viewing the fmall 
 group of perfonages which furround it, would not ex- 
 claim : *' There's the Univerfal Deluge !" 'Such is the 
 nature of the huhian foul ; fo far from being material, it 
 lays hold only of correfpondencies. The lefs you difplay 
 to it phyfical objefts, the more you awaken in it intellec- 
 tual feelings. 
 
 Of the Seiife of Hearing. 
 
 Plato calls hearing and feeing tha fenfes of the foul. 1 
 fuppofe he qualifies them particularly by this name, be- 
 caufe vifion is affefted by light, which is not, properly 
 fpeaking, a fubftance ; and hearing, by the modulations 
 of the air, which are not of themfelves bodies. Befides, 
 thefe two fenfes convey to us only the fentiment of cor- 
 refpondencies and harmonies, without involving us in mat- 
 ter, as fmelling does, which is affeaed only by the ema- 
 nations from bodies, tailing by their fluidity, and touch- 
 ing by their folidity, by their foftnefs, by their heat and 
 
 VOL. II. XX 
 
3^2 A VINDICATION of 
 
 by their other phyfical qualities. Though hearing aiidl 
 feeing be the dire£l fenfes of the foul, we ought not, how- 
 ever, thencd to conclude, that a man born deaf and blind 
 mufl be an ideot, as fome have pretended. The foul fees 
 and hears by all the fenfes. This has been demonftrated 
 in the cafe of the blind Princes of Perfia, whofe fingers, 
 according to Chardin\ report, are fo aflonifhingly intelli- 
 gent, that they can trace, and calculate, all the figures of 
 Geometry on tablets. Such are, likewife, the deaf and 
 the dumb, whom the Ahhi de VEpie, is teaching to con- 
 verfe together. 
 
 I have no occafion to be diffufe on the fubjeft of the in- 
 telleftual relations of hearing. This fenfe is the immedi- 
 ate organ of intelligence ; it is*, that which is adapted to 
 the reception of fpeech, a faculty peculiar to Man, and 
 "which, by its infinite modulations, is the expreffion of all. 
 the correfpondencies of Nature, and of all the feelings of 
 the human heart. But there is another language, which 
 feems to appertain Hill more particularly to this firff prin- 
 ciple of ourfelves, to which we have given the name of 
 Jentivient : I mean mufic. 
 
 I fhall not dwell on the incomprehenfible power which 
 it poffelfes of roufing and quieting the pafFions, in a man- 
 ner independent of reafon, and of kindling fublime affec- 
 tions, difengaged from all intelleftual perception : Its ef- 
 fefts are fufficiently known. I fhall only obferve, that it 
 is fo natural to Man, that the firfl prayers addrelfed to the 
 Deity, and the original Laws among all Nations, were 
 fet to Mufic. Man lofes a tafle for it only in polifhed 
 fociety, the very languages of which, at length, lofe their 
 accentuation. The faft is, that a multitude of focial re- 
 lations deflroy, in a Hate of refinement, tl?e correfponden- 
 cies of Nature. In that flate, we reafon much, but fcarce- 
 ly feel any longer. 
 
 The Author of Nature has deemed the harmony of 
 founds to be fo neccffary to Man, that there is not a fitua- 
 tion upon the Earth but what lias its finging bird. The 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 36$ 
 
 Tinnet of the Canaries ufually frequents, in tliofe iflands, 
 the flinty gutters of the mountains. The goldfinch de- 
 lights in fandy downs, the lark in' the meadows, the night- 
 ingale in woods by the fide of a brook, the bullfinch, 
 whofe note is fo fweet, in the white thorn : The thrufh, 
 the yellowhammer, the greenfinch, and all other finging 
 birds, have their favourite poll. It is very remarkable, 
 that all over the Globe they difcover an inftinft which at- 
 trafts them to the habitation of Ma-n. If there be but a 
 fingle hut in a foreft, all the fong birds of the vicinity 
 come and fettle around it. Nay, none are to be found ex- 
 cept in places which are inhabited. I have travelled 
 more than fix hundred leagues, through the forells of Ruf- 
 lia, but never met with fmall birds except in the neigh- 
 bourhood of villages. On making the tour of the fortifi- 
 ed places of Ruffian Finland, with the General Officers of 
 the Corps of Engineers, in which I ferved, we travelled 
 fometimes at the rate of twenty leagues a day, without fee- 
 ing on the road either village or bird. But when we per- 
 ceived the fparrows fluttering about, we concluded that 
 we muft be drawing near fome inhabited place. In this 
 indication we were never once deceived. I relate it with 
 the more fatisfaftion, that it may fometimes be of fervice 
 to perfons who have loft their way in the woods. 
 "^ Garcillajo de la Vega informs us, that his father having 
 been detached from Peru, with a company of Spaniards, 
 to make difcoveries beyond the Cordeliers, was in danger 
 of perifhing with hunger in the midft of their uninhabited 
 valleys and quagmires. He never could have got out, had 
 he not perceived in the air a flight of paroquets, which 
 fuggefted a hope that there might be fome place of habita- 
 tion at no great diftance. He direfted his march to that 
 point of the compafs which the paroquets had purfued, 
 and arrived, after incredible fatigue, at a colony of In- 
 dians, who cultivated fields of maize. 
 
 It is to be obferved, that Nature has not given a mufical 
 voice to any one fea or river bird, becaufe it would have 
 
,364 A VINDICATION OP 
 
 been loft in the noife of the waters, and becaufe the hu- 
 man ear could not have enjoyed it at the diftance which 
 they are deflined to live from the land. If there are fwans 
 which fing, as has been alleged by fome, their fong muft 
 confift of but very few modulations, with fome refem- 
 blance to the uncouth founds uttered by the duck and 
 the goofe. That of the wild fwans, which came lately 
 and fettled at Chantilly, has only four or five notes. A- 
 quatic birds have fhrill and piercing cries, by means of 
 which they can make themfelves heard in the regions of 
 wind and tempeft where they inhabit, and are in perfeft 
 correfpondence with their noify fituations, and their mel- 
 ancholy folitudes. 
 
 The melodies of fong birds have fimilar relations to the 
 fites which they occupy, and even to the diftances at which 
 they live from our habitations. The lark, who neftles a- 
 mong our corn, and delights in foaring perpendicularly 
 till we lofe fight of him, makes his voice to be heard in 
 the air, after he is no longer perceptible to the eye. The 
 fwallow, who grazes the walls of our houfes as he flies, 
 and repofes on our chimneys, has a fmall gentle chirping 
 voice, which does not ftun the ear, as that of the fongfters 
 of the grove would do ; but the folitary nightingale makes 
 himfelf heard at the diftance of more than half a league. 
 He miftrufts the vicinity of man ; and, neverthelefs, al- 
 ways places himfelf within fight of his habitation, and 
 within the reach of his ear. He choofes, for this effeft, 
 places which are the beft conduftors of found, in order 
 that their echoing may give more a6fion to his voice. 
 Having ftationed himfelf in his orcheftra, he warbles an 
 imknown drama, which has its exordium, its expofition, 
 its recitative^ its cataftrophe, intermingled fometimes with 
 the inoft extravagant burfts of joy, fometimes with bitter 
 and plaintive notes of recolleftion, which he exprefles by 
 long and deep fighs. He raifes his fong at the commence- 
 ment of that feafon which renews the face of Nature, and 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 3^ 
 
 feems to prefent Man with a reprefentation of the reftlefe 
 career which lies before him. 
 
 Every bird has a voice adapted to the times and the 11a- 
 tions of its deflination, and relative to the wants of Man. 
 The loud clarion of the cock calls him up to labour at 
 the dawn of day. The brifk and lively fong of the lark, 
 in the meadow, invites the fwains and fhepherdefles to the 
 dance ; the voracious thrufh, which appears only in Au- 
 tumn, fummons the ruftic vine drefTer to the vintage. 
 Man alone, on his part, is attentive to the accents of the 
 feathered race. Never will the deer, who fheds tears 
 copioully over his own misfortunes, figh over thofe of the 
 complaining Philomel. Never did the laborious ox, 
 when led to the flaughter, after all his painful fervices, 
 turn his head toward her, and fay : " Solitary bird, be- 
 '* hold in what manner Man rewards his fervants !" 
 
 Nature has difFufcd thefe diftraftions, and thefe confo- 
 nances of fortune, over volatile beings, in order that our 
 foul, fufceptible as it is of every woe, finding every where 
 occafions of extending that fufceptibility, might every 
 where be enabled to alleviate the preflure. She has ren- 
 dered infenfible bodies themfelves capable of thefe com- 
 munications. She prefents to us, frequently, in the midft 
 of fcenes which pain the eye, other fcenes which delight 
 the ear, and foothe the mind with interefting recolleftions. 
 It is thus that from the bofom of forefts, fhe tranfports us 
 to the brink of the waters, by the ruffling of the afpins 
 and of the poplars. At other times fhe conveys to us, 
 when we are by the fide of the brook, the noife of the 
 Sea, and the manoeuvres of navigation, in the murmuring 
 of reeds fhaken by the wind. When fhe can no longer 
 feduce our reafon by foreign imagery, fhe lulls it to refl 
 by the charm of fentiment : She calls forth from the bo- 
 fom of the forefls, of the meadows, and of the valleys, 
 founds ineffable, which excite in us pleafmg reveries, and 
 plunge us into profound fleep. 
 
%66 A VINDICATION or 
 
 0/ the Serrje of Touching. 
 
 I fhall make but a few reflexions on the fenfe of touch- 
 ing. It is the moft obtufe of all our fenfes, and, never- 
 thelefs, it is, in fome fort, the feal of our intelligence. To 
 no purpofe is an objecl expofed to the examination of the 
 eye, in every pofTible pofition ; we cannot be perfuaded 
 that we know it unlefs we are permitted «to put it to the 
 touch. This inflinft proceeds, perhaps, from our weak- 
 nth, which feeks in thefe approximations points of pro- 
 tcftion. Whatever may be in this, the fenfe in queftion, 
 blunt as it is, may be made the channel of communicating 
 intelligence, as is evident from the example adduced by 
 Ckardin, ot the blind men of Perfia, who traced geometri- 
 cal figures with their fingers, and formed a very accurate 
 judgment of the goodnefs of a watch, by handling the 
 parts of the movement. 
 
 Wife Nature has placed the principal organs of this 
 fenfe, which is diffufed over the whole furface of our fl<:in, 
 in our hands and feet, which are the members the beft a- 
 dapted to judge of the quality of bodies. But in order 
 that they might not be expofed to the lofs of their fenfi- 
 bility, by frequent fhocks, fhe has bellowed on them a 
 great degree of pliancy, by dividing them into feveral fin- 
 gers and toes, and thefe again into feveral joints ; farther, 
 ihe has furniflied them, on the points of contaft, with e- 
 laftic half pincers, which prefent, at once, refiflance in 
 their callous and prominent parts, and an exquifite fenfi- 
 bility in the retreating parts. 
 
 It is matter of aftonifhment to me, however, that Na- 
 ture fhould have diffufed the fenfe of touching over the 
 whole furface of the human body, which becomes thence 
 expofed to variety of fuffering, while no conlidcrabic ben~ 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 367 
 
 efit feems to refult from it. Man is the only animal laid 
 under the neceffity of clothing himfelf. There are, in- 
 deed, fome infefts which make cafes for themfelves, fuch 
 as the moth ; but they are produced in places where their 
 clothing is, if I may fay fo, ready made. This necelTity, 
 which is become one of the moft inexhauflible fources of hu- 
 man vanity, is, in my opinion, one of the moft humiliating 
 proofs of our wretchednefs. Man is the only being who 
 is afhamed of appearing naked. This is a feeling of which 
 I do not difcern the reafon in Nature, nor the fimilitude 
 in the inflinft of other animals. Befides, independently 
 of all fenfe of ftiame, he is conflrained, by powerful ne- 
 ceffity, to clothe himfelf, in every variety of climate. 
 
 Certain Philofophers, wrapped up in good warm cloaks,' 
 and who never ftir beyond the precinfts of our great cities, 
 have figured to themfelves a natural Man on the Earth, like 
 a flatue of bronze in the middle of one of our fquares. But 
 to fay nothing of the innumerable inconveniencies which 
 muft, in fuch a flate, opprefs his miferable exiftence from 
 without, as the cold, the heat, the wind, the rain, I fhall 
 infift only on one inconvenience, which is but flightly felt 
 in our commodious apartments, though it would be abfo- 
 lutely infupportable to a naked man, in the mod genial of 
 temperatures ; I mean the flies. 1 fhall quote, to this pur- 
 pofe, the teflimony ot a man whofe fkin ought to have 
 been proof againft this attack : It is that of the free hoot- 
 er Raveneau de Li(Jfan,\'f\\o, in the year 1688, crofFed the 
 iflhmus of Panama, on his return from the South Seas. 
 Hear what he . fays, fpeaking of the Indians of Cape de 
 Gracias a Dios : " When they are overtaken with an in- 
 ** clination to go to fleep, they dig a hole in the fand, in 
 " which they lay themfelves along, and then cover them- 
 ** felves all over with the fand which they had duor out ; 
 " this they do to fhelter themfelves from the attack of the 
 " mufquitos, with which the air is frequently loaded. 
 *' They are a kind of little flies, that are rather felt than 
 ** ^c^nj and are armed with a fling fo keen, and fo veuiom- 
 
3^8 A VINDICATION of 
 
 *' ous, that when they fix on any one, they feem to dart 
 " a fhaft of fire into the blood. 
 
 *' The poor wretches are fo grievoufly tormented with 
 " thofe formidable infefts, when it does not blow, that 
 " they become like lepers ; and I can affirm it as a feri- 
 " ous truth, for I know it from my own experience, 
 " that it is no flight evil to be attacked by them ; for, be- 
 " fides their preventing all reft in the night time, when 
 " we were obliged to trudge along, with our backs naked 
 ** for want of Ihirts, the unceafmg perfecution of thofe 
 " mercilefs little animals drove us almoft to madnefs and 
 *' defp 
 
 air. 
 
 It is, I am difpofed to believe, on account of the troub- 
 lefomenefs of the flies, which are very common, and very 
 DecefTary, in the marlhy and humid places of hot countries, 
 that Nature has placed but few quadrupeds with hair, on 
 their fhores, but quadrupeds with fcales, as the tatou, the 
 armadillo, the tortoife, the lizard, the crocodile, the cay- 
 man, the land crab, bernard the hermit, and other fcaly 
 reptiles, fuch as ferpents, upon which the flies have not 
 the means of faftening. It is, perhaps, for this reafon, 
 likewife, that hogs and wild boars, which take pleafure in 
 frequenting fuch places, are furnifhed with hair long, ftiff 
 and briftly, which keep volatile infefts at a diftance. 
 
 Once more. Nature has not employed, in this refpefl, 
 any one precaution in behalf of Man. Of a truth, on 
 contemplating the beauty of his forms, and his complete 
 nakednefs, it is impoffible for me not to admit the ancient 
 tradition of our origin. Nature, in placing him on the 
 Earth, faid to him : " Go, degraded creature, animal def- 
 *• titute of clothing, intelligence without light ; go, and 
 " provide for thy own wants ; it fhall not be in thy power 
 *' to enlighten thy blinded reafon, but by direfting it con- 
 ** tinually toward Heaven, nor to fuftain thy miferable 
 " life, without theafTiftance of beings like thyfelf." And 
 
 * Journal of a Voyage to the South Sea in i688. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 369 
 
 tlius, out of the mifery of Man, fprung up the two com- 
 mandments of the Law. 
 
 OF THE SENTLMENTS OF THE SOUL« 
 
 AND, FIR.ST> 
 
 Of mental Affe&ions. 
 
 I (hall fpeak of mental afFcftions, chiefly in the view of 
 i^iftinguifhing them from the fentiments of the foul : They 
 differ efTentially from each other. For example, the pleaf- 
 ure which comedy bellows is widely different from that 
 of which tragedy is the fource. The emotion which ex- 
 cites laughter is an affeft ion of the mind, or of human rea- 
 fon ; that which difTolves us into tears is a fentiment of 
 the foul. Not that I would make of the mind, and of the 
 foul, two powers of a different nature ; but it feems to 
 me, as has been already faid, that the one is to the other, 
 what fight is to the body ; mind is a faculty, and foul is 
 the principle of it : The foul is, if 1 may venture thus to 
 exprefs myfelf, the body of our intelligence. 1 confider 
 the mind, then, as an intelle6lual eye, to which may be 
 referred the other faculties of the underftanding, as the 
 imagination^ which apprehends things future ; memory ^ 
 which contemplates things that are pafl ; zrvAjudginent^ 
 which difcerns their correfpondencies. The imprefhon 
 made upon us by thefe different afts of vifion, fometimes 
 excites in us a fentiment which is denominated evidence \ 
 and in that cafe, this laft perception belongs immediately 
 to the foul ; ot this we are made fenfible by the delicious 
 emotion which it fuddenly excites in us ; but, raifed to 
 that, it is no lenger in the province of mind ; becaufe, 
 
 VOL. II. Y v 
 
370 A VINDICATION of 
 
 when we begin to feel, we ceafe to reafon ; it is no longer 
 vifion, it is enjoyment. 
 
 As our education and our manners dire6l us toward our 
 perfonal interell, hence it comes to pafs, that the mind 
 employs itfelf only about focial conformities, and that 
 reafon, after all, is nothing more than the intereft of our 
 pallions ; but the foul, left to itfelf, is inceffantly purfu- 
 ing the conformities of Nature, and our fentiment is al- 
 ways the intereft of Mankind. 
 
 Thus, I repeat it, mind is the perception of the Laws 
 of Society, and fentiment is the perception of the Laws 
 of Nature. Thofe who difplay to us the conformities of 
 Society, fuch as comic Writers, Satyrifts, Epigrammat- 
 ifts, and even the greateft part of Moralifts, are men of 
 w^it : Such were the Abbe de Choijy^ La Bruycre, St. £<y- 
 remont^ and the like. Thofe who difcover to us the con- 
 formities of Nature, fuch as tragic, and other Poets of fen- 
 fibility, the Inventors of arts, great Philofophers, are men 
 of genius : Such were Shakefpeare, Corneille^ Racine, 
 Newton^ Marcus Aureiius, Montejqmeu, La Fontaine, Fen- 
 elon, jf. J. Roujfeau, The firft clafs belong to one age, 
 to one feafon, to one nation, to one junto ; the others to 
 pofterity and to Mankind. 
 
 We fliall be ftill more fenfible of the difference which 
 fubfifts between mind and foul, by tracing their afFe6tions 
 in oppofite progreffes. As often, for example, as the per- 
 ceptions of the mind are carried up to evidence, they are 
 exalted into a fource of exquifite pleafure, independently 
 of every particular relation of intereft ; becaufe, as has 
 been faid, they aw^aken a feeling within us. But when 
 we go about to analyze our feelings, and refer them to the 
 examination of the mind, or reafoning power, the fublime 
 emotions which they excited in us vanifti away ; for in 
 this cafe, we do not fail to refer them to fome accommoda- 
 tion of fociety, of fortune, of fyftem, or of fome other per- 
 fonal intereft, whereof our reafon is compofed. Thus, in 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 57^ 
 
 the firft cafe, we change our copper into gold ; and in the 
 fecond, our gold into copper. 
 
 Again, nothing can be lefs adapted, at the long run, to 
 the ftudy of Nature, than the rcafoning powers of Man; 
 for though they may catch here and there fome natural 
 conformities, they never piirfue the chain to any great 
 length : Befides, there is a much greater number which 
 the mind does not perceive, becaufe it always brings back 
 every thing to itfelf, and to the little focial or fcientific 
 order within which it is circumfcribed. Thus, for example, 
 if it takes a glimpfe of the celeftial fpheres, it will refer 
 the formation of them to the labour of a glafs houfe ; and 
 if it admits the exiflence of a creating Power, it will rep- 
 refent him as a mechanic out of employment, amufinghim- 
 felf with making globes, merely to have the pleafure of 
 feeing them turn round. It will conclude, from its own 
 diforder, that there is no fuch thino- as order in Nature ; 
 from its own immorality, that there is no morality. As 
 it refers every thing to its own reafon, and feeing no rea- 
 fon for exiflence, when it fhall be no longer on the Earth, 
 it thence concludes, that, in faft, it fiiall not in that cafe 
 exift. To be confiftent, it ought equally to conclude, on 
 the fame principle, that it does not exill now ; for it cer- 
 tainly can difcover, neither in itfelf, nor in any thing a- 
 round, an a£lual reafon for its exiflence. 
 
 We ^re convinced ot our exiflence by a power greatly 
 fuperior to our mind, which is fentiment, or intelleftual 
 feeling. We are going to carry this natural inflin^t along 
 with us into our refearches refpecling the exiflence of the 
 Deity, and the immortality of the foul; fubjefts, on 
 which our verfatile reafon has fo frequently engaged, 
 fometimes on this, fometimes on the other fide of the quell- 
 ion. Though our infufficiency be too great to admit of 
 launching far into this unbounded career, we prefume to 
 hope, that our perceptions, nay, our very miflakes, may 
 encourage men of genius to enter upon it. Thefe fub- 
 lijtne and eternal truths fcem to us fo deeply imprinted on 
 
57* A VINDICATION or 
 
 the human heart, as to appear themfelves the principles 
 of our intelleftual feeling, and to manifefl themfelves in 
 our mod ordinary affe£lions, as in the wildeft excefTes of 
 our pafTions. 
 It 
 
 OF THE SENTIMENT OF INNOCENCE. 
 
 The fentiment of innocence exalts us toward the Dei- 
 ty, and prompts us to virtuous deeds. The Greeks and 
 Romans employed little children to fing in their relig- 
 ious feftivals, and to prefent their offerings at the altar, 
 in the view of rendering the Gods propitious to their 
 Country, by the fpeftacle of infant innocence. The fight 
 of infancy calls men back to the fentiments of Nature. 
 When Cato of Utica had formed the refolution to put 
 himfelf to death, his friends and fervants concealed his 
 fword ; and upon his demanding it, with expreffions of 
 violent indignation, the.y delivered it to him by the hand 
 of a child : But the corruption of the age in which he 
 lived, had ftifled in his heart the fentiment which mno- 
 cence ought to have excited. 
 
 Jesus Christ recommends to us to become as little 
 children : We call them innocents, non 7iocentes, becaufe 
 they have never injured any one. But, notwithftanding 
 the claims of their tender age, and the authority of the 
 Chriflian Religion, to what barbarous education are they 
 not abandoned ? 
 
 Of PUy. 
 
 The fentiment of innocence is the native fource of 
 compaffion ; hence we are more deeply affefted by the 
 fufferings of a child than by thofe of an old man. The rea^ 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 373 
 
 fon is not, as certain Philofophers pretend, becaufe the 
 refources and hopes of the child are inferior ; for they 
 are, in truth, greater than thofe of the old man, who is 
 frequently infirm, and haflening to diffolution ; whereas 
 the child is entering into life; but the child has never of- 
 fended ; he is innocent. This fentiment extends even to 
 animals, which, in many cafes, excite our fympathy more 
 than rational creatures do, from this very confideration, 
 that they are harmlefs. This accounts for the idea of the 
 good La Fontaine, in defcribing the Deluge, in his fable- 
 ©f Baucis and Philemon. 
 
 Tout difparut fur I'heurc, 
 
 Les vieillards deploroient ces feveres deftins: 
 Les animaux perir ! Car encor ]es humains, 
 Tous avoient du tomber fous Ics celeftes armes, 
 Baucis en repandit en fecret quclques larmes. 
 
 All difappcar'd in that tremendous hour. 
 
 Age felt the weight of Heaven's infulted power : 
 
 On guilty Man the ftroke with juftice fell, 
 
 But harmlcfs^brutcs!— the fiercencfs who can tell 
 
 Of wrath divine ? — At thought of this, fome tears 
 
 Stole down the cheeks of Baucis 
 
 Thus the fentiment of innocence developes, m the heart 
 of Man, a divine charafter, which is that of generofity. 
 It bears, not on the calamity abflraftedly confidered, but 
 on a moral quality, which it difcerns in the unfortunate 
 being who is the objeft of it. It derives increafe from 
 the view of innocence, and fometimes ftill more from 
 that of repentance. Man alone, of all animals, is fufcep- 
 tible of it : And this, not by a fecret retrofpeft to himfelf, 
 as fome enemies of the Human Race have pretended : 
 For, were that the cafe, on ftating a comparifon between 
 a child and an old man, both of them unfortunate, we 
 ought to be more aTfe6l€d bv the mifery of the old man, 
 
374 A VINDICATION of 
 
 confidering that weare removing from the wretchednefs of 
 childhood, and drawing nearer to thofe of old age: The 
 contrary, however, takes place, in virtue of the moral 
 fentiment which I have alleged. 
 
 When an old man is virtuous, the moral fentiment of 
 his diftrefs is excited in us with redoubled force ; this is 
 an evident proof, that pity in Man is by no means an an- 
 imal aiFeftion. The fight of a Belifarius is, accordingly 
 a moft afFefting objecl:. If you heighten it by the intro- 
 duftion of a child holding out his little hand to receive 
 the alms bellowed on that illuftrious blind beggar, the im- 
 prefTion of pity is ftill more pow^erful. , But let me put a 
 fentimental cafe. Suppofe you had fallen in with Belifarius 
 foliciting charity, on the one hand, and on the other, 
 an orphan child, blind and wretched, and that you had 
 but one crown, without the poflibility of dividing it, to. 
 which of the two would you have given it ? 
 
 If onrefle6lion you find, that the eminent fervices ren- 
 dered by Belifarius to his ungrateful Country, have in- 
 clined the balance of fentiment too decidedly in his fa- 
 vour, fuppofe the child overwhelmed with the woes of 
 Belifarius^ and at the fame time pofTefTrng fome of his 
 virtues, fuch as having his eyes put out by his parents, 
 and, neverthelefs, continuing to beg alm.s for their re- 
 lief;* there would, in my opinion, be no room for hefita- 
 tion, provided a man felt only : For if you reafon, the 
 cafe is entirely altered ; the talents, the vi6lories, the re- 
 nown of the Grecian General, would prefently abforb the 
 calamities of an obfcure child. Reafon will recal you to 
 the political intereft, to the / human. 
 
 The fentiment of innocence is a ray of the Divinity. 
 It invclls the unfortunate perfon with a celeflial radiance, 
 
 ■^ The reftor of a country village, in the vicinity of Paris, not far from 
 Pravct, underwent, in his infancy, a piece of Inhumanity not lefs barbarous, 
 from the hands of his parents. He fuficrcd caflration from his own father, 
 who was by profcfTion a furgeon : He, neverthelefs, fupported that unnat- 
 .ja\ oari-nt in !iis old a^c. I believe both father a:id for. are ftill in life. 
 
DIVEINPROVIDENCE. 375 
 
 which falls on the human heart, and recoils, kindling it 
 into generofity, that other flame of divine original. It 
 alone renders us fenfible to the diftrefs of virtue, by rep- 
 refenting it to us as incapable of doing harm ; for other- 
 wife, we might be induced to confider it as fufficient to 
 itfelf. In tifiis cafe it would excite rather admiration 
 than pity. 
 
 Of the Love of Country. 
 
 This fentiment is, ftill farther, the fource of love of 
 Country, becaufe it brings to our recolleftion the gentle 
 and pure afFeftions of our earlier years. It increafes 
 with extenfion, and expands with the progrefs of time, as 
 a fentiment of a celeftial and immortal nature. They 
 have, in Switzerland, an ancient mufical air, and extreme- 
 ly fimple, called the rans des vaches. This air produces 
 an effeft fo powerful, that it was found neceflary to pro- 
 hibit the playing of it, in Holland and in France, before 
 the Swifs foldiers, becaufe it fet them all a deferting one 
 after another. I imagine that the rans des vaches muft 
 imitate the lowing and bleating of the cattle, the reper- 
 cufTion of the echoes, and other local affociations, which 
 made the blood boil in the veins of thofe poor foldiers, 
 by recalling to their memory the valleys, the lakes, the 
 mountains of .their Country,* and, at the fame time, the 
 
 * I have been told that Poutaveri, the Indian of Ta'fti, who was feme 
 years ago brought to Paris, on feeing, in the Royal Garden, the paper 
 mulberry tree, the bark of which is. in that ifland, manufaftured into cloth, 
 the tear ftarted to his eye, and clafping it in his arms, he exclaimed : Akl 
 tree of my country! I could wifh it were put to the trial, whether, on pre- 
 fenting to a foreign bird, fay a paroquet, a fruit of its country, which it had 
 not feen for a conhderable time, it would exprefs fome extraordinary emo- 
 tion. Though phyfical fenfations attach us ftrongly to Country, moral fen- 
 tioients alone can give them a vehement iaieufity. Time, which blunts the 
 
37^ A VlxVDICATlON of 
 
 companions of their early life, their firft loves, the re^ 
 colleftion of their indulgent grandfathers, and the like. 
 
 The love ot Country feems to ftrengthen in proportion 
 as it is innocent and unhappy. For this reafon Savages 
 are fonder of their Country than poliflied Nations are ; 
 and thofe who inhabit regions rough and wild, fuch as 
 mountaineers, than thofe who live in fertile countries and 
 fine climates. Never could the Court of Ruflia prevail 
 upon a fingle Samoiede to leave the fhores of the Frozen 
 Ocean, and fettle at Peterfburg. Some Greenlanders 
 were brought, in thecourfe of the laft century, to the Court 
 of Copenhagen, where they were entertained with a pro- 
 I'ufion of kindnefs, but foon fretted themfelves to death. 
 Several of them were drowned, in attempting to return to 
 their Country in an open boat. They beheld all the mag- 
 nificence of the Court of Denmark with extreme indiffer- 
 ence ; but there was one, in particular, whom they ob- 
 ferved to weep every time he faw a woman with a child 
 in her arms ; hence they conjeftured that this unfortunate 
 man was a father. The gentlenefs of domeftic education, 
 undoubtedly, thus powerfully attaches thofe poor people 
 to the place of their birth. It was this which infpired the 
 Greeks and Romans with fo much courage in the defence 
 of their Country. The fentiment of innocence ftrength- 
 ens the love of it, becaufe it brings back all the affeftions 
 of early life, pure, facred and incorruptible. Virgil was 
 well acquainted with the effeft of this fentiment, whea he 
 put into the mouth of Nifus, who was diffuading Eurya- 
 lu5 from undertaking a nofchirnal expedition, fraught with 
 danger, thofe affe61ing words : 
 
 former, gives only a keener edge to the latter. For this reafun it is, that 
 veneration tor a monument is always in proportion to its antiquity, or to its 
 diftance ;. this explains that cxpreflion of Tacitus : Major v lovginquo rcvcrentUx 
 Diftaiiceincreafes reverence. 
 
DIVINE PROVIlDENCE. ^'j 
 
 Te fuperefle velim : Tua vita dignior «tas. 
 
 If thou furvivc me, I fliall die content : 
 Thy tender age dcferves the longer life. 
 
 But among Nations with whom infancy is rendered 
 miferable, and is corrupted by irkfome, ferocious and un- 
 natural education, there is no more love of Country than 
 there is of innocence. This is one of the caufes which 
 fends fo many Europeans a rambling over the World, and 
 which accounts for our having fo few modern monuments 
 in Europe, becaufe the next generation never fails to de- 
 llroy the monuments of that which preceded it. This is 
 the reafon that our books, our fafhions, our cuftoms, our 
 ceremonies, and our languages, become obfolete fo foon, 
 and are entirely different this age from what they were in 
 the laft ; whereas all thefe particulars continue the fame 
 among the fedentary Nations of Afia, for a long feries of 
 ages together ; becaufe children brought up in Afia, in 
 the habitation of their parents, and treated with much gen- 
 tlenefs, remain attached to the eftablifhments of their an- 
 ceftors, out of gratitude to their memory, and to the places 
 of their birth, from the recolle6lion of their happinefs aa^ 
 innocence. 
 
 OF THE SENTIMENT OF ADMIRATION. 
 
 The fentiment of admiri^tion tranfports us immediately 
 into the bofom of Deity. If it is excited in us by an 
 obje6l which infpires delight, we convey ourfelves thither 
 as to the fource of joy ; if terror is roufed, we flee thither 
 for refuge. In either cafe. Admiration exclaims in thefe 
 words, Ah, my God I This is, wc are told, the effea of 
 
 VOL. II. z z 
 
378 A VINDICATION of 
 
 education merely, in the courfe of which frequent 
 mention is made of the name of God ; but mention is 
 ilill more frequently made of our father, of the king, 
 of a proteftor, of a celebrated literary charafter. How- 
 comes it, then, that when we feel ourfelves flanding in 
 need of fupport, in fuch unexpefted concuffions, we never 
 exclaim, Ak, my King ! or, if Science were concerned. 
 Ah, Ntivton ! 
 
 It is certain, that if the name of God be frequently 
 mentioned to us, in the progrefs of our education, the idea 
 of it is quickly effaced in the ufual train of the affairs of 
 this World ; Why then have we recourfe to it in extraor- 
 dinary emergencies ? This fentiment of Nature is com- 
 mon to all Nations, many of whom give no theological in- 
 ilruftion to their children. I have remarked it in the 
 Negroes of the coafl of Guinea, of Madagafcar, of Cafre- 
 rie, and Mofambique, among the Tartars, and the Indians 
 of the Malabar coaft ; in a word, among men of every 
 quarter of the World. I never faw a fmgle one who, un- 
 der the extraordinary emotions of furprife or of admira- 
 tion, did not make, in his own language, the fame excla- 
 mation which we do, and who did not lift up his hands 
 and his eyes to Heaven. 
 
 Of ike Marvellous 
 
 The fentiment of admiration is the fource of the in- 
 ftinft which men have, in every age, difcovered for the 
 marvellous. We are hunting after it continually, and 
 every where, and we difFufe it, principally, over the com- 
 mencement and the clofe of human life : Hence it is 
 that the cradles and the tombs of fo great a part of Man- 
 kind have been envelpped in fiQion. It is the perennial 
 fource of our curiofity ; it difclofes itfelf from early in- 
 fancy, and is long the companion of innocence. Whence 
 
DIVEINPROVIDENCE. 379 
 
 could children derive the tafte for the marvellous ? They 
 piull have Fairy tales ; and men mufl have epic poems 
 and operas. It is the marvellous which conftitutes one 
 of the grand charms of the antique ftatues of Greece and 
 Rome, reprefenting heroes or gods, and which contributes, 
 more than is generally imagined, to our delight, in the 
 perufal of the ancient Hiftory of thofe Countries. It is 
 one of the natural reafons which may be produced to the 
 Prefident Renault, who exprefTes aftonifliment that we 
 fhould be more enamoured of ancient Hiftory than of 
 modern, efpecially that of our own country : The truth 
 is, independently of the patriotic fentiments, which ferve, 
 at leaft, as a pretext to the intrigues of the great men of 
 Greece and Rome, and which were fo entirely unknown 
 to ours, that they frequently embroiled their country in 
 maintaining the interefts of a particular houfe, and fomc- 
 times in afferting the honour of precedency, or of fitting 
 on a joint ftool ; there is a marvellous in the religion of 
 the Ancients which confoles and elevates human nature, 
 whereas that of the Gauls terrifies and debafes it. The 
 gods of the Greeks and the Romans were patriots, like 
 their great men. Minerva had given them the olive, N'ep^ 
 tune the horfe. Thefe gods protefted the cities and the 
 people. But thofe of the ancient Gauls were tyrants, 
 like their Barons ; they afforded proteaion only to the 
 Druids. They muft be glutted with human facrifices. 
 In a word, this religion was fo inhuman, that two fuccef. 
 five Roman Emperors, according to the teftimonf oi Sue- 
 tonius and Pli?i)'y commanded it to be abolifhed. I fay 
 nothing of the modern interefts of our Hiftory ; but fure 
 1 am that the relations of our politics will never replace 
 in it, to the heart ot Man, thofe of the Divinity. 
 
 1 muft obferve that, as admiration is an involuntary 
 movement of the Soul toward Deity, and is, of confe- 
 quence, fublime, feveral modern Authors have ftrained 
 to multiply this kind of beauty in their produ6Hons, by 
 an accumulation of furprifing incidents ; but Nature cm^ 
 
^U A VINDICATION or 
 
 ploys them fparingly in hers, becaufe Man is incapable of 
 frequently undergoing concuflions fo violent. She dif- 
 clofesto us, by little and little, the light of the Sun, the 
 expanfion of flowers, the formation of fruits. She grad- 
 ually introduces our enjoyments by a long feries of har- 
 monies ; fhe treats us as human beings ; that is, as ma- 
 chines feeble and eafily deranged ; fhe veils Deity from 
 our view, that we may be able to fupport his approach. 
 
 The Pleajure of Myjiery 
 
 This is the reafon that myftery poffefTes fo many charms, 
 Piftures placed in the full glare of light, avenues in ftraight 
 lines, rofes fully blown, women in gaudy apparel, are 
 far from being the objefts which pleafe us moft. But 
 fhady valleys, paths winding about through the forefts, 
 flowers fcarcely half opened, and timid fhepherde (Tes, ex- 
 cite in us the fweeteft and the moft lafting emotions. 
 The lovelinefs and refpeftability of obje8;s are increafed 
 by their myfterioufnefs. Sometimes it is that of antiq- 
 uity, which renders fo many monuments venerable m 
 our eyes ; fometimes it is that of diftance, which dif- 
 fufes fo many charms over obje6ls in the Horizon ; 
 fometimes it is that of names. Hence the Sciences 
 which retain the Greek names, though they frequently 
 denote only the moft ordinary things, have a more impof- 
 ing air of refpeft than thofe which have only modern 
 names, though thefe may, in many cafes, be more ingeni- 
 ous and more ufeful. Hence, for example, the conftruc- 
 tion of flilps, and the art of navigation, are more lightly 
 prized by our modern literati, than feveral other phyfical 
 fciences of the moft frivolous nature, but which are dig- 
 nified by Greek names. Admiration, accordingly, is not 
 * relation of the underftanding, or a perception of ouf 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^U 
 
 reafon; but a fentiment of the foul, which arifes in us, 
 from a certain undefcribable inftinfl of Deity, at fight 
 of extraordinary objefts, and from the very myfterioufnefs 
 in which they are involved. This is fo indubitably cer- 
 tain, that admiration is deftroyed by the fcience which en- 
 lightens us. If I exhibit to a favage an eolipile darting; 
 out a ftream of inflamed fpirit of wine, I throw him into 
 an ecftafy of admiration ; he feels himfelf difpofed to fall 
 down and worfliip the machine ; he venerates me as the 
 the God of Fire, as long as he comprehends it not ; bu^ 
 no fooner do I explain to him the nature of the proc- 
 efs, than his admiration ceafes, and he looks upon me as 
 a cheat.* 
 
 T/ic Pleafures of Ignorance. 
 
 Erom an efTefl of thofe ineffable fentiments, and o^ 
 thofe univerfal inftin^fs of Deity, it is, that ignorance is 
 become the inexhauftible fource ot delight to Man. We 
 mu ft take care not to confound, as all our Moralifts do, 
 ignorance and error. Ignorance is the work of Nature, 
 and, in many cafes, a blefling to Man ; whereas error is 
 frequently the fruit of our pretended human Sciences, 
 and is always an evil. Let our political Writers fay 
 
 * For this reafon it is that we admire only that which is uncommon. 
 Were there to appear, over the Horizon of Paris, one of thofe parhelia 
 which are fo common at SpiczbergCB, the whole inhabitants of the city 
 would be in the ftrcets to gaze at it, and wonder. It is nothing more, how- 
 ever, than a reflefticn of the Sun's difk in the clouds ; and no one ftandsi 
 ftill to contemplate the Sun himfelf, becaufe the Sun is an object too well 
 known to be admired. 
 
 It is myflery which ccnftiiutes one of the charms of Religion. ThoQ; 
 who infill upon a geometrical demonftration on this fubjeft, betray a pro- 
 found ignorance, at cnce, of the Laws of Nature, and of the demands of 
 tbehursan heart. 
 
332 A VINDICATION of 
 
 what they will, while they boaft of owr wonderful prog- 
 refs in knowledge, and oppofe to it the barbarifm of pail 
 dges, it was not ignorance which then fet all Europe on 
 fire, and inundated it with blood, in fettling religious dif- 
 putations, A race of ignorants would have kept them- 
 felves quiet. The mifchief was done by perfons who- 
 were under the power of error, who, at that time, vaunted 
 as much, perhaps, of their fuperior illumination, t(s we 
 now a days do of ours, and into each of whom the Euro- 
 pean fpirit of education had inftilled this error of early 
 infancy, Be thejirjl. 
 
 How many evils does ignorance conceal from us, 
 which we are doomed one day to encounter, in the courfe 
 of human life, beyond the poflibility of efcaping ! the in- 
 conflancy of friends, the revolutions of fortune, calum- 
 nies, and the hour of death itfelf, fo tremendous to mod 
 men. The knowledge of ills like thefe would mar all 
 the comfort of living. How many bleflings does ignor- 
 ance render fublime ! the illufions of friendfhip, and 
 thofe of love, the perfpeftives of hope, and the very treaf- 
 iires which Science unfolds. The Sciences infpire de- 
 light only when we enter upon the ftudy of them, at the 
 period when the mind, in a ftate of ignorance, plunges 
 into the great career. It is the point of contaft between 
 light and darknefs, which prefents to the eye the moft fa- 
 vourable flate of vifion : This is the harmonic point, 
 which excites our admiration, when we are beginning to 
 fee clearly ; but it lafis only a fingle inflant. It vanifhes 
 together with ignorance. The elements of Geometry 
 may have impallioned young minds, but never the aged, 
 linlefs in the cafe of certain illuftrious Mathematicians, 
 who were proceeding from difcovery to difcovery. Tliofe 
 fcienaes only, and thofe paflions, which are fubjefted to 
 doubt and chance, form enthufiafls at every age of life, 
 fiich as chemiftry, avarice, play and love. 
 
 For one pleafure which Science beflows, and caufes t9 
 iDcrifli in the bellowing, ignorance prefents. us with a 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 383 
 
 ihoufand, which flatter us infinitely more. You demon- 
 ftrate to me that the Sun is a fixed globe, the attraftion of 
 which gives to the planets one halt of their movements. 
 Had they, who believed it to be conduced round the 
 Wdrld by Apollo, an idea lefs fublime ? They imagined, 
 at leaft, that the attention of a God pervaded the Earth, 
 together with the rays of the Orb of Day. It is Science 
 which has dragged down the chafte Diana from her noc- 
 turnal car : She has banifhed the Hamadryads from the 
 antique forefts, and the gentle Naiads from the founuins. 
 Ignorance had invited the Gods, to partake of its joys 
 and its woes ; to Man's wedding, and to his grave ; Sci- 
 ence difcerns nothing in either, except the elements mere- 
 ly. She has abandoned Man to his fellow, and thrown 
 him upon the Earth as into a defert. Ah ! whatever may 
 be the names which fhe gives to the different kingdoms 
 of Nature, celeftial fpirits, undoubtedly, regulate their 
 combinations fo ingenious, fo varied and fo uniform : 
 and Man, who could beftow nothing upon himfelf, is not 
 the only being in the Univerfe who partakes of intelli- 
 gence. 
 
 It is not to the illumination of Science that tlie Deity 
 communicates the mofl profound fentiment of his attri- 
 butes, but to our ignorance. Night conveys to the mind 
 a much grander idea of infinity than all the glare of day. 
 In the daytime, 1 fee but one Sun ; during the night I 
 difcern thoufands. Are thofe very liars, fo varioufly 
 coloured, really Suns ? Are thofe planets, which revolve 
 around ours, aftually inhabited, as ours is ? From whence 
 came the planet Cybele,* difcovered but yefterday, by a 
 German of the name of Herjchd ? It has been running 
 its race from the beginning of the Creation, and was, till 
 of late, unknown to us. Whither go thofe uncertainly 
 revolving comets, traverfing the regions of unbounded 
 
 * ThcEnglilh, in compliment to their Sovereign, Gecr^i III, give it tljc 
 Same of Ceor^ium 5idus. 
 
Zh A v'INDICATION OF 
 
 fpace ? Oi what confifls that milky way which divides 
 the firmament of Heaven ? What are thofe two dark 
 clouds, placed toward the Antarftic Pole, near the crofs 
 of the South ? Can there be ftars which difFufe darknefs, 
 conformably to the belief of the Ancients ? Are there 
 places in the firmament which the light never reaches ? 
 The Sun difcovers to me only a terreftrial infinity, and 
 tlie night difclofes an infinity altogether celeftial. O, 
 mvflerious ignorance, draw thy hallowed curtains over 
 thofe enchanting fpeftacles ! Permit not human Science 
 to apply to them its cheerlefs compafl^es. Let not virtue 
 be reduced, henceforth, to look for her reward from the 
 juftice and the fenfibility of a Globe ! Permit her to 
 think that there are in the Univerfe, deftinies far differ- 
 ent from thofe which fill up the meafure of woe upon! 
 this Earth. 
 
 Science is continually (hewing us the boundary of our 
 reafon, and ignorance is for ever removing it. 1 take 
 care, in my folitary rambles, not to afk information re- 
 fpecting the name and quality of the perfon who owns 
 the callle which 1 perceive at a diftance. The hiftory of 
 the mafter frequently disfigures that of the landfcape. It 
 is not fo with the Hiftory of Nature ; the more her Works 
 are ftudied, the more is our admiration excited. There 
 is one cafe only in which the^ knowledge of the works of 
 men is agreeable to us, it is when the monument which 
 we contemplate has been the abode ot goodnefs. What 
 Httle fpire is that which I pei-ceive at Montmorency ? It 
 is that of Saint Gratian, where Catinat lived the life of a 
 fage, and under which his afhes are laid to reft. My 
 foul, circumfcribed within the precinfts of a fmall village, 
 takes its flight, and ranges over the capacious fphere of 
 the age of Louis XIV, and haftens thence to expatiate 
 through a fphere more fublime than that of the World, 
 the fphere of virtue. When I am incapable of procur- 
 ing for myfeif fuch perfpe6lives as thefe, ignorance of 
 places anfwcis my purpofe much better than the knowU 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 385 
 
 edge of them could do. I have no occafion to be inform- 
 ed that fuch a foreft belongs to an Abbey or to a Dutchy, 
 in order to feel how majeftic it is. Its ancient trees, its 
 profound glades, its folemn, filent folitudes, are fufficient 
 for me. The moment I ceafe to behold Man there, that 
 moment I feel a prefent Deity. Let me give ever fo lit- 
 tle fcope to my fentiment, there is no landfcape but 
 what I am able to ennoble. Thefe vafl meadows are 
 metamorphofed into Oceans ; thefe mift clad hills are 
 iflands emerging above the Horizon ; that city below, is 
 a city of Greece, dignified by the refidence of Socrates 
 and of Xenophon. Thanks to my ignorance, I can give 
 the reins to the inflinft of my foul. I plunge into infin- 
 ity. I prolong the diftance of places by that of ages ; 
 and, to complete the illufion, I make that enchanted fpot 
 the habitation of virtue. 
 
 OF THE SENTIMENT OF MELANCHOLY. 
 
 So beneficent is Nature, that fhe converts all her phe- 
 nomena into fo many fources of pleafure to Man ; and if 
 We pay attention to her procedure, it will be found, that 
 her moft common appearances are the mofl; agreeable. 
 
 I enjoy pleafure, for example, when the rain defcends 
 in torrents, when I fee the old molTy walls dripping, and 
 when I hear the whiftling of the wind, mingled with the 
 clattering of the rain. Thefe melancholy founds, in the 
 night time, throw me into a foft and profound fleep. Nei- 
 ther am I the only perfon fufceptible of fuch affcftions. 
 Pliny tells us of a Roman Conful, who, when it rained, 
 had his couch fpread under the thick foliage of a tree, in 
 order to hear the drops clatter as they tell, and to be lull- 
 ed to deep by the murmuring noife. 
 
 VOL. ir. A a a 
 
386 A VINDICATION of 
 
 I cannot tell to what phyfical Law Philofophers may 
 reier the fenfatlons of melancholy. For my own part, I 
 confider them as the mod voluptuous affeftions of the fouL 
 Melancholy, fays Michael Montaigne, is dainty. It pro- 
 ceeds, if 1 am not miflaken, from its gratifying, at once, 
 the two powers of which we are formed, the body and the 
 foul ; the fentiment of our mifery, and that of our excel- 
 lence. 
 
 Thus, for example, in bad weather, the fentiment of my 
 human mifery is tranquillized, by my feeing it rain, while 
 1 am under cover ; by my hearing the wind blow violent- 
 ly, while I am comfortably in bed. 1, in this cafe, enjoy 
 a negative felicity. With this are afterwards blended 
 lome of thofe attributes of the Divinity, the perceptions 
 of which communicate fuch exquifite pleafure to the foul ; 
 fuch as infinity of extenfion, from the diflant murmuring 
 of the wind. This fentiment may be heightened from re- 
 flexion on the Laws of Nature, fuggefting to me that this 
 rain, which comes, for the fake of fuppofition, from the 
 Weft, has been raifed out of thebofomof the Ocean, and, 
 perhaps, from the coafts of America ; that it has been fent 
 to fweep our great cities into cleanlinefs, to replenifh the 
 refcrvoirs of our fountains ; to render our rivers naviga- 
 ble ^ and whilft the clouds, which pour it down, are ad- 
 vancing eaftward, to convey fertility even to the vegetii- 
 bles of Tartary, the grains and the garbage, which it car- 
 ries down our rivers, are hurling away weftward, to pre- 
 cipitate themfclvcs into the Sea, to feed the fifhes of the 
 Atlantic Ocean. Thefe excurfions of my underftanding 
 convey to the foul an extenfion correfponding to its na- 
 ture, and appear to me fo much the more pleafing, that the 
 bodv, which, for its part loves rcpofe, is more tranquil, 
 and more completely protefted. 
 
 If I am in a ibrrowful mood, and not difpofed to fend 
 my foul on an excurfion fo extenfive, 1 Hill feel much 
 pleafure in giving way to the melancholy which the bad 
 weather infpires. It looks as if Nature was then conform^ 
 
DIVEINPROVIDENCE. 387 
 
 ing to my fituatlon, like a fympathizing friend. She is, 
 befides, at all times fo interefting, under whatever afpea 
 Hie exhibits herfelf, that when it rains, I think I fee a 
 beautiful w^oman in tears. She feems to me more beau- 
 tiful, the more that flie wears the appearance of affliftion. 
 In order to be impreffed with thele fentiments, which I 
 venture to call voluptuous, 1 mufl; have noprojeft in hand 
 of a pleafant walk, of vifiting, of hunting, of journeying, 
 which, in fuch circumftances, would put me into bad hu- 
 mour, from being contradiBed. Much lefs ought our 
 two component powers to crofs, or clafli againft each 
 other, that is, to let the fentiment of infinity bear upon 
 our mifery, by thinking that this rain w^ill never have an 
 end ; and that of our mifery to dwell on the phenomena 
 of Nature, by complaining that the feafons are quite de- 
 ranged, that order no longer reigns in the elements, and 
 thus giving into all the peevifli, inconclufive reafonings, 
 adopted by a man who is wet to the fkin. In order to the 
 enjoyment of bad weather, our foul muft be travelling a- 
 broad, and the body at reft. 
 
 From the harmony of thofe two powers of our con- 
 ftitutions it is, that the moft terrible revolutions of Nature 
 frequently intereft us more than her gayeft fcenery. The 
 volcano near Naples attraas more travellers to that city, 
 than the delicious gardens which adorn her Ihores ; the 
 plains of Greece and Italy, overfpread with ruins, more 
 than the richly cultivated lawns of England ; the piaure 
 of a tempeft, more connoifTeurs than that of a calm ; 
 and the fall of a tower, more fpeaators than its conllruc- 
 t-ion. 
 
g88 A VINDICATION of 
 
 The P leaf lire of Ruin. 
 
 I was for fome time imprefled with the beljef, that Mas 
 had a certain unaccountable tafte for deflruftion. If the 
 populace can lay their hands upon a monument, they are 
 fure to deftroy it. I have feen at Drefden, in the gardens 
 of the Count de Brithl^ beautiful ftatues of females, which 
 the PrufTian foldiery had amufed themfelves with mutilat- 
 ing by mulket fhot, when they got pofTeflion of that city. 
 Moll of the common people have a turn for flander ; they 
 take pleafure in levelling the reputation of all that is ex- 
 alted. But this malevolent inftinft is not the produftion 
 of Nature. It is infufed by the mifery of the individuals, 
 whom education infpires with an ambition which is inter- 
 dicted by Society, and which throws them into a negative 
 ambition. Incapable of raifing any thing, they are impel- 
 led to lay every thing low. The tafte for ruin, in this 
 cafe, is not natural, and is {imply the exercife of the pow- 
 er of the miferable. Man, in a favage ftate, deflroys the 
 monuments only of his enemies ; he preferves, with the 
 moft afiiduous care, thofe of his own Nation ; and, what 
 proves iiim to be naturally much better than Man in a 
 ftate ot Society, he never ilanders his compatriots. 
 
 Be it as it may, the paflive tafle for ruin is univerfal. 
 Our voluptuaries embellifh their gardens with artificial 
 ruins ; favages take delight in a melancholy repofe by the 
 brink of the Sea, efpecially duilng a llorm, or in the vi- 
 cinity of a cafcade furrounded by rocks. Magnificent 
 deflrutlion prefents new piflurefque efFe6ls ; and it was 
 the curiofity of feeing this produced, combined with cru- 
 elty, which impelled Nero to fet Rome on fire, that he 
 Tnight enjoy the fpeftaclc of a vail conflagration. The 
 (entiment of humanity out of the queflion, thofe long 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 389 
 
 ftreams of Flame which, in the middle of the night, lick 
 the Heavens, to make ufe of Virgil'^ expreffion, thofe 
 torrents of red and black fmoke, thofe clouds of fparks of 
 all colours, thofe fcarlet reverberations in the llreets, on 
 the fummit of towers, along the furface of the waters, and 
 on the diftant mountains, give us pleafure even in pidurcs 
 and in defcriptions. 
 
 This kind of afFe6lion, which is by no means connefted 
 with our phyfical wants, has induced certain Philofophers 
 to allege, that our foul, being in a flate of agitation, took 
 pleafure in all extraordinary emotions. This is the rea- 
 fon, fay they, that fuch crowds affemble in the PiacQ 
 de Greve to fee the execution of criminals. In fpe6la- 
 cles of this fort, there is, in faft, no pifturefque effeft 
 whatever. But they have advanced their axiom as (light- 
 ly as fo many others, with which their Works abound, 
 Firft, our foul takes pleafure in reft as much as in com- 
 motion. It is a harmony very gentle, and very eafily dif- 
 turbed by violent emotions ; and granting it to be, in its 
 own nature, a movement, I do not fee that it ought to 
 take pleafure in thofe which threaten it with its own de- 
 ftruftion. Lucretius has, in my opinion, come much near- 
 er to the truth, when he fays that talles of this fort arife 
 from the fentiment of our owm fecurity, which is height- 
 ened by the fight of danger to which we are not expoled. 
 It is a pleafant thing, fays he, to contemplate a ftorm trom 
 the fhore. It is, undoubtedly, from this reference to fell, 
 that the common people take delight in relating, by the 
 fire fide, collecfed in a family way, during the V/inter 
 evenings, frightful ftories of ghofts, of men lofing them- 
 felves by night in the woods, of highway robberies. From 
 the fame fentiment, likewife, it is, that the better fort take 
 pleafure in the reprefentation of tragedies, and in reading 
 the defcription of battles, of Ihipwrecks, and ot the crafn 
 of empire. The fecurity of the fnug tradefman is in- 
 creafed by the danger to which the foldier, the niariner, 
 fhe CQurtier is expofed. Pleafure of this kind arifes troin 
 
390 A VINDICATION of 
 
 the fentiment of our mifery, which is, as has been faiJ, 
 one of the inflinfts of our melancholy. 
 
 But there is in us, befides, a fentiment more fublime, 
 which derives pleafure from ruin, independently of all 
 pifturefque effeft, and of every idea of perfonal fecurity ; 
 it is that of Deity, which ever blends itfelf with our mel- 
 ancholy affeftions, and which conflitutes their principal 
 charm. I fhall attempt to unfold fome of the charafters 
 of it, by following the imrreffions made upon us by ruins 
 of different kinds. The fubjeft is both rich and new ; 
 but I poffefs neither leifure nor ability to bellow, upon it, 
 a profound inveftigation. 1 fhall however drop a few 
 words upon it, by the way, in the \'iew of exculpating 
 and exalting human nature with what ability 1 have. 
 
 The heart of man is fo naturally difpofed to benevo- 
 lence^ that the fpeftacle of a ruin, which brings to our 
 recolleftion only the mifery of our fellow men, infpires 
 us with horror, whatever may be the pifturefque efFe6l 
 which it prefents. I happened to be at Drefden, in the 
 year 1765, which was feveral years after it had been bom- 
 barded. That fmall, but very beautiful and commercial 
 city, more than half compofed of little palaces, charming- 
 ly arranged, the fronts of which were adorned externally 
 with paintings, colonades, balconies, and pieces of fculp- 
 ture, then prefentcd a pile of ruins. A confiderable part 
 of the .enemy's bombs had been direfted againfl the Lu- 
 theran church, called St. Peter's, built in form of a ro- 
 tundo, and arched over with fo much folidity, that a great 
 number of thofe bombs ftruck the cupola, without being 
 able to injure it, but rebounded on the adjoining palaces, 
 which they fet on fire, and partly confumed. Matters 
 were ftill in the fame (late as at the conclufion of the war, 
 at the time of my arrival. They had only piled up, a- 
 long fome ot the ftreets, the ftones which encumbered 
 them ; fo that they formed, on each fide, long parapets of 
 blackened flone. You might fee halves of palaces lland- 
 i::g, laid open from the roof down to the cellars. It was 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 391 
 
 eafy to diftinguifh in them the extremity of (lair cafes, 
 painted cielings, little clofets lined with Chinefc papers,- 
 fragments of mirror glaffes, of marble chimnies, of fmok- 
 ed gildings. Of others, nothing remained, except maffy 
 ftacks of chimneys rifmg amidft tlie rubbi{h,'like long 
 black and white pyramids. More than a third part of the 
 city was reduced to this deplorable condition. You faw 
 the inhabitants moving backward and forward, with a fet- 
 tled gloom on their faces, formerly fo gay, that they were 
 called the Frenchmen of Germany. Thofe ruins, which 
 exhibited a multitude of accidents fingularly remarkable, 
 from their forms, their colours and their grouping, threw 
 the mind into a deep melancholy ; for you faw nothing 
 in them but the traces of the wrath of a King, who had 
 not levelled his vengeance againft the ponderous ramparts 
 of a warlike city, but againft the pleafant dwellings of an 
 i-nduftrious people. I obferved even more than one Pruf- 
 fian deeply aflfefted at the fight. I by no means felt, 
 though a ftranger, that refleftion of felf fecuritv which 
 arifes in us on feeing a danger againft which we arc fbel- 
 tered ; but, on the contrary, a voice of affiiftion thril- 
 led through my heart, faying to me, if cJiis were thy Coun^ 
 try I 
 
 It is not fo with ruins which are the cffetl of time. 
 Thefe give pleafure by launching us into infinity ; they 
 carry us feveral ages back, and intcrell us in proportion 
 to their antiquity. This is the reafon that the ruins of 
 Italy afFe6l us more than thofe of our o^vn country ; the 
 ruins of GrcQce more than thofe of Italy ; and the ruins 
 of Egypt more than thofe of Greece. The firfl antique 
 monument which I had ever feen was in the vicinity of 
 Orange. It was a triumphal arch, which Man us caufed 
 to be erected, to commemorate his viftory over the Ciin- 
 bri. It flands at a fmall diftance from the city, in the 
 midft of fields. It is an oblon"- mafs, confillinff of three 
 arcades, fomewhat refembling the gate of St. Denis. On 
 getting neur, I became all eyes to gaze at it. \^^hat .' 
 
^^i, A VINDICATION OF 
 
 exclaimed I, a work of the ancient Romans ! and imagifi- 
 ation inftantly hurried me away to Rome, and to the age 
 of Marius. It would not be eafy for me to defcribe all 
 the fucceflive emotions which were excited in my breaft. 
 In the firft place, this monument, though ere61ed over 
 iht. fufferings of Mankind, as all the triumphal arches in 
 Europe are^ gave me no pain, for I recollefted that the- 
 Cim.bri had come to invade Italy^ like bands of Robbers. 
 1 remarked, that if this triumphal arch was a memorial of 
 tlve- vi61ories of the Romans over the Cimbri, it was like- 
 wife a monument of the triumph of time over the Romans, 
 I could diftinguifli upon it, in the bafs relief of the frize, 
 which reprefents a battle^ an enfign, containing thefe char- 
 afters, clearly legible, S. P. Q. R. Senatus Populus Qui 
 Romanus; and another infcribed with M. 0....the mean- 
 ing of which 1 could not make out. As to the warriors,, 
 they were fo completely effaced, that neither their arms 
 nor their features were diftinguifhable. Even the limbs 
 of fome of them were w^orn out. The mafs of this mon- 
 ument was, in other refpefts, in excellent prefervation, 
 excepting one of the fquare pillars that fupported th^ 
 arch, which a vicar in the neighbourhood had demolifli- 
 ed, to repair his parfonage houfe. This modern ruin fug- 
 gefted another train of refleftion, refpefting the exquifite 
 ikill of the Ancients, in the conftruftion of their public 
 monuments ; for though the pillar which fupported one 
 of the arches, on one fide, had been demolifhed, as I have 
 mentioned, neverthelefs, that part of the arch which reft- 
 tc\ upon it, hung unfupported in the air, as if the pieces 
 of the vaulting had been glued to each other. Another 
 idea likewife flruck me, namely, that the demoliOiing 
 parfon might, perhaps, have been a defcendant from the 
 ancient Cimbri, as we modern French trace up our de- 
 fcent to the ancient Nations of the North, which invaded 
 Italy. Thus, the demolition excepted, ot w^hich I by no 
 means approve, from the refpeft: I bear to antiquity, I 
 mafed upon the viciiTitudes of all human affairs, -whiclii 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 393 
 
 put the viftors in the place of the vanquifhed, and the 
 vanquifhed in that of the viftors. 1 fettled the matter 
 thus, therefore, in my own mind, that as Marias had a- 
 venged the honour of the Romans, and levelled the glory 
 of the Cimbri, one of the defcendants of the Cimbri had, 
 in his turn, levelled that of Manus ; while the young 
 people of the vicinity, who might come, perhaps, on their 
 days of feftivity, to dance under the fhade of this tri- 
 umphal arch, fpent not a fingle thought about either the 
 perfon who conftrufted, or the perfon who demoliflied it. 
 The ruins, in which Nature combats with human Art, 
 infpire a gentle melancholy. In thefe (he difcovers to us 
 the vanity of our labours, and the perpetuity of her own. 
 As Ihe is always building up, even when {he deftroys, fhe 
 calls forth from the clefts of our monuments, the yellovsr 
 gillyflower, the chsenopodium, gralTes of various forts, 
 %vild cherry trees, garlands of bramble, flripes of mofs and 
 all the faxatile plants, which, by their flowers and their 
 attitudes, form the moft agreeable ccntrafts with the 
 rocks. 
 
 I ufed to flop formerly, with a high degree of pleafure, 
 in the garden of the Luxembourg, at the extremity of the 
 alley of the Carmelites, to contemplate a piece of archi- 
 teaure which ftands there, and had been originally intend- 
 ed to form a fountain. On one fide of the pediment 
 which crowns it, is ftretched along an ancient River god, 
 on whofe face time has imprinted wrinkles inexpreflibly 
 more venerable than thofe which have been traced by the 
 chifel of the Sculptor : It has made one of the thighs to 
 drop off, and has planted a maple tree in its place. Of 
 the Nai'ad who was oppofite, on the other fide of the pedi- 
 ment, nought remains except the lower part of the body. 
 The head, the ftioulders, the arms, have all difappeared. 
 The hands are ftill fupporting an urn, out of which ifl'ue, 
 inftead of fluviatic plants, fome of thofe which thrive in 
 the driefl fituations, tufts of yellow gillyflowers, dandcli^ 
 ons and long flieaves of faxatile grafl^es. 
 VOL. II. B b b 
 
^H 
 
 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 A fine flyle of Archite6lure always produces beautiful 
 tuins. The plans of Art, in this cafe, form an alliance 
 with the majcfty of thofe of Nature. 1 know no objeft 
 which prefents a more impofmg afpeft than the antique 
 and well conftrufted towers, which our Anceftors reared 
 on the fummit of mountains, to difcover their enemies 
 from afar, and out of the coping of which now fhoot out 
 tall trees, with their tops waving majellically in the wind. 
 1 have feen others, the parapets and battlements of which, 
 murderous in former times, were embellifhed with the li- 
 lach in flower, whofe (hades, of a bright and tender violet 
 hue, formed enchanting oppofitions with the cavernous 
 and embrowned ftone work of the tower. 
 
 The intereft of a ruin is greatly heightened, when fome 
 moral fentiment is blended with it ; for example, when 
 thofe degraded towers are confidered as having been form- 
 erly the refidence of rapine. Such has been, in the Pais 
 de Caux, an ancient fortification, called the caftle of Lil- 
 lebonne. The lofty walls, which form its precinfl:, are 
 ruinous at the angles, and fb overgrown with ivy, that 
 there are very few fpots where the layers of the ftones are 
 perceptible. From the middle of the courts, into which I 
 believe it muft have been no eafy matter to penetrate, a- 
 rife lofty tovx^ers with battlements, out of the fummit of 
 which fpring up great trees, appearing in the air like a 
 head drcfs of thick and bufhy locks. You perceive here 
 and there, through the mantling of the ivy which clothes 
 the fides of the caftle, Gothic windows, embrafures and 
 breaches which give a glimpfe of flair cafes, and refemble 
 the entrance into a cavern. No bird is feen flying around 
 this habitation of defolation, except the buzzard hovering 
 over it in filence ; and if the voice of any of the feathered 
 race makes itfelf fometimes heard there, it is that of fome 
 A)litary owl which has retired hither to build her neft. 
 This caflle is fituated on a rifing ground, in the middle of 
 a narrow valley, formed by mountains crowned with for- 
 elts. When I recoiled:, ^t fight of this manfion, that it 
 
DIVEINPROVIDEKCE. .395 
 
 was formerly the refidence of petty tyrants, who, before 
 the royal authority was fufficiently eftablifhed over the 
 kingdom, from thence exercifed their felf created right of 
 pillage, over their miferable vafTals, and even over inof- 
 fenfive paflengers who tell into their hands, I imagine to 
 myfelf that I am contemplating the carcafe, or the fkele« 
 ton, of fome huge, ferocious beaft of prey. 
 
 The P leaf lire of Tombs, 
 
 But there are no monuments more interefting^tiian tlie 
 tombs of men, and efpecially thofe of our own anceftors. 
 It is remarkable, that every Nation, in a flate of Nature, 
 and even the greatell part of thofe which are civilized, 
 have made the tombs of their forefathers, the centre of 
 their devotions, and an eflential part of their religion. 
 From thefe, however, muft be excepted the people whofe 
 fathers rendered themfelves odious to their children by 
 a gloomy and fevere education, I mean, the weflern and 
 fouthern Nations of Europe. This religious melancholy 
 is diffufed every where elfe. The tombs of progenitors 
 are, all over China, among the principal embelliihments 
 of the fuburbs of their cities, and of the hills in the coun- 
 try. They form the moft powerful bonds of patriotic a(- 
 feftion among favage Nations. When the Europeans 
 have fometimes propofed to thefe a change of territory, 
 this was their reply : " Shall wc fay to the bones of our 
 *' Fathers, arife, and accompany us to a foreign land ?" 
 They always con fidered this objeftionas infurmountable. 
 Tombs have furniflied, to the poetical ta'cnts of Young 
 .and Gefner, imagery the mofl enchanting. Our voluptua- 
 ries, who fometimes recur to the fcntiments of Nature, 
 have faftitious monuments ercficd in their gardens. Thefe 
 9re not, it miifl be confefled, the tombs of their parents. 
 
39b A VINDICATION or 
 
 But whence could they have derived this fentiment oi 
 funeral melancholy, in the very midft of pleafure ? Muft 
 it not have been from the perfuafion that fomething ftill 
 fubfifts after we are gone ? Did a tomb fuggeft to their 
 imagination only the idea of what it isdefigned to contain, 
 that is, a corpfe merely, the fight of it would fhock rather 
 than pleafe them. How afraid are mofl of them at the 
 thought of death ! To this phyfical idea, then, fome moral 
 fentiment muft undoubtedly be united. The voluptuous 
 melancholy refulting from it arifes, like every other at- 
 traftive fenfation, from the harmony of the two oppofite 
 principles ; from the fentiment of our fleeting exiftence, 
 and of that of our immortality ; which wnite on behold- 
 ing the laft habitation of Mankind. A tomb is a monu- 
 ment erefted on the confines of the two Worlds. 
 
 It firft prefents to us the end of the vain difquietudes of 
 life, and the image of everlafting repofe : It afterwards a- 
 wakens in us the confufed fentiment of a blefied immor- 
 tality, the probabilities of which grow ftronger and ftrong- 
 er, in proportion as the perfon whofe memory is recalled 
 was a virtuous chara61er. It is there that our veneration 
 fixes. And this is fo unqueftionably true, that though 
 there be no difference between the duft of Nero and that 
 ol Socrates, no one would grant a place in his grove to 
 the remains of the Roman Emperor, were they depofited 
 even, in a filver urn ; whereas every one would exhibit 
 thofe of the Philofophcr in the moft honourable place 
 of his beft apartment, were they contained in only a vafe 
 of clay. 
 
 It is from this intelle6lual inftinft, therefore, in favour 
 of virtue, that the tombs of great men infpire us with a 
 veneration fo affefting. From the fame fentiment too it 
 is, that thofe which contain objefts that have been lovely 
 excite fo much pleafing regret ; for, as we fliall make ap- 
 pear prefently, the attraftions of love arife entirely out of 
 the appearances of virtue. Hence it is that we are moved 
 at the fight of xhe little hillock which covers the aflies qF- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 397 
 
 an amiable infant, from the recolle6lion of its innocence ; 
 hence, again, it is, that we are melted into tenderncfs on 
 contemplating the tomb in which is laid torepofe a young 
 female, the delight and the hope of her family, by reafon 
 of her virtues. In order to render fuch monuments inter- 
 efting and refpeftable, there is no need of bronzes, mar- 
 bles and gildings. The more fimple that they are, the 
 more energy they communicate to the fentiment of mel- 
 ancholy. They produce a more powerful effeft, when 
 poor rather than rich, antique rather than modern, with 
 details of misfortune rather than with titles of honour, 
 with the attributes of virtue rather than with thofe of 
 power. It is in the country, principally, that their im- 
 preflion makes itfelf felt in a very lively manner. A fim- 
 ple, unornamented grave there, caufes more tears to flow 
 than the gaudy fplendor of a cathedral interment.* There 
 it is that grief alTumes fublimity ; it afcends with the a. 
 ged yews in the churchyard; it extends with the fur- 
 rounding hills and plains ; it allies itfelf with all the ef- 
 
 * Our Artifts fet ftatues of marble a weeping round the tombs of the 
 Great. It is very proper to make ftatucs weep, where men (bed no tears, 
 1 have been many a time prefent at the funeral obfequies of the rich ; hut 
 rarely have 1 feen any one (bedding a tear on luch occafions, unlefsil: were, 
 now and then, an aged domeftic, who was, perhaps, left deRitute. Some 
 time ago, happening to pafs throurh a little frequented ftreet of the Faux- 
 bourg Saint Marceau, I perceived a coffin at the door of a houfe of but 
 mean appearance. Clofe by the coffin was a woman on her knees, in cam- 
 eft prayer to God, and who had all the appearance of being ablorbcd in 
 grief. This poor woman having caught with her eye, at the farth:r end of 
 the ftreet, the pricfts and their attendants coming to cairy off the body, 
 got upon her feet, and run oif, putting her hands upon her eyes, and crying 
 b'tterly. The neighbours endeavoured to ftop her, and to adminiftcr fomc 
 confolation : but all to no purpofe. As fnc paffed clofe by me, I took the 
 liberty to aftc if it was the lofs of a mother or of a daughter that (be lamcnL- 
 td fo piteoufly. ♦' Alas! Sir," faid (be to mc, the tears guffiing down her 
 cheeks, " I am mourning the Icfs of a good lady, who procured me the 
 «« means of earning my poor livelihood ; fbc kept mc employed from day 
 *• to day." I informed myfclf in the neighbourhood refped..^ the condi- 
 tion of this beneficent lady : She was the wife of a petty joiner. Ye peo- 
 ple of wealth, What ufe then do you make of ricl-.cs, d'n ip- your lifetime, 
 i^fin^ no tears at» fived over your ^rave I 
 
3^5 A VINDICATION of 
 
 f€6ls of Nature, with the dawning of the morning, the 
 murmuring of the winds, the fetting of the Sun, and the 
 darknefs of the night. 
 
 Labour the moft oppreflive, and humiliation the moft 
 degrading, are incapable of extinguilhing the impreffion 
 of this fentiment in the breafls of even the moll miserable 
 of Mankind. " During the fpacc of two years," fays 
 Pather clu Tertre, '* our negro Domini ck, after the death 
 *' of his wife, never failed, for a fingle day, as foon as he 
 *' returned from the place of his employment, to take 
 " the little boy and girl which he had by her, and to con- 
 " du8; them to the grave of the deceafed, over which he 
 ** fobbed and wept before them, for more than half an 
 *' hour together, while the poor children frequently 
 *' caught the infeQion of his forrow.*" What a funeral 
 oration for a wife and a mother ! This man, however, was 
 nothing but a wretched flave. 
 
 There farther refults, from the view of ruins, another 
 fentiment, independent of all refleftion : It is that of hero- 
 ifm. Great Generals have oftener than once employed 
 their fublime effeft, in order to exalt the courage of their 
 foldiers. Alexander perfuaded his army, loaded with 
 the fpoils of Perfia, to burn their baggage ; and the mo- 
 ment that the fire was applied, they are on tiptoe to fol- 
 low him all over the World. Williajn, Duke of Nor- 
 mandy, as loon as he had landed his troops on England, 
 fet fire to his own fhips, and the conqueft ot the king- 
 dom was effefted. 
 
 But there are no ruins which excite in us fentiments 
 fo fublime, as the ruins of Nature produce. They repre- 
 fent to us this vaft prifon of the Earth, in which we are 
 immured, fubjeft itfelf to deftruftion ; and they detach 
 lis, at once, from our paiTions and prejudices, as from a 
 momentary and frivolous, theatrical exhibition. When 
 Lilbon was deflroyed by an earthquake, its inhabitants, 
 
 • HiHory of ihe Amille* : Tr. vlil. chap, i . fcft. 4. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 399 
 
 on making their efcape from their houfes, embraced each 
 other ; high and low, friends and enemies, Jews and In- 
 quifitors, known and unknown ; every one fhared his cloth- 
 ing and provifions with thofe who had faved nothing. I 
 have feen fomething fimilar to this take place on board a 
 fhip, on the point of perifhing in a florm. The firft effe6l 
 of calamity, fays a celebrated Writer, is to flrengthen the 
 foul, and the fecond is, to melt it down. It is becaufe 
 the firft emotion in Man, under the preffure of calamity, 
 is to rife up toward the Deity ; and the fecond, to fall 
 back into phyfical wants. This lafl effeft is that of re- 
 fleftion ; but the moral and fublime fentiment, almoft 
 always takes pofleflion of the heart, at fight of a magnih- 
 cent deftruftion. 
 
 Ruins of Nature, 
 
 When the prediftions of the approaching diffolution of 
 the World fpread over Europe, fome ages ago, a very 
 great number of perfons divefted themfelves of their prop- 
 erty ; and there is no reafon to doubt, that the very fame 
 thing would happen at this day, fhould fimilar opinions 
 be propagated with effeft. But fuch fudden and total ru- 
 ins are not to be apprehended in the infinitely fage plans 
 of Nature : Under them nothing is deflroyed, but what is 
 by them repaired. 
 
 The apparent ruins of the Globe, fuch as the rocks 
 which roughen its furface in fo iirony places, have their 
 utility. Rocks have the appearance of ruins in our eye$, 
 only becaufe they are neither fquare nor polifhed, like the 
 {tones of our monuments ; but their anfraftuofitics are 
 neceffary to the vegetables and animals which are deflined 
 to find in them nourifhment and fhelter. It is only for be- 
 ings vegetative and fenfitive, that Nature has created the 
 foflil kingdom ; and as foon as Man has raifed ufelefs 
 
40O A VINDICATION of 
 
 mafles out of it, to thefe objefts, on the furface of the 
 Earth, fhe haftens to apply her chifel to them, in order to 
 employ them in the general harmony. 
 
 If we attend to the origin and the end of her Works, 
 thofe of the moft renowned Nations will appear perfeftly 
 frivolous. It was not necefTary that mighty Potentates 
 fhouid rear fuch enormous mafTes of ftone, in order, one 
 day, to infpire me with refpeft, from their antiquity. A 
 little flinty pebble, in one of our brooks, is more ancient 
 than the pyramids of Egypt. A multitude of cities have 
 been deftroyed fince it was created. If I feel myfelf dif- 
 pofed to blend fome moral fentiment with the monuments 
 of Nature, I can fay to myfelf, on feeing a rock : " It was 
 " on this place, perhaps, that the good Fenelon repofed, 
 " while meditating the plan of his divine Telemachus ; 
 " perhaps the day will come, when there fhall be engrav- 
 ed on it, that he had produced a revolution in Europe, 
 " by inilru6ling Kings, that their glory confided in ren- 
 •' dering Mankind happy ; and that the happinefs of Man- 
 *' kind depends on the labours of agriculture ; Pofterity 
 will gaze with delight on the very ftone on which my 
 " eyes are at this moment fixed." It is thus that I em- 
 brace, at once the paft and the future, at fight of an infen- 
 fible rock, and which, by confecrating it to virtue, by a 
 fimple infcription, I render infinitely more venerable, 
 than by decorating it with the five orders of Architefture. 
 
 Of the Pleafure of Solitude. 
 
 Once more, it is melancholy which renders folitude fo 
 attraftive. Solitude flatters our animal inftinft, by invit- 
 ing us to a retreat fo much more tranquil, as the agitations 
 of our life have been more reftlefs ; and it extends our 
 divine initin6>, by opening to us perfpeQives, in which 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 401 
 
 natural and moral beauties prefent themfelves with all the 
 attraftion of fentiment. From the efFe6l of thefe contrafts, 
 and of this double harmony, it comes topafs, that there is 
 no folitude more foothing than that which is adjoining to 
 a great city ; and no popular feftivity more agreeable than 
 that which is enjoyed in the bofom of a folitude. 
 
 OF THE SENTIMENT OF LOVE. 
 
 Were love nothing fuperior to a phyfical fenfation, I 
 would wifh for nothing more than to leave two lovers to 
 reafon and to aft, conformably to the phyfical laws of the 
 motion of the blood, of the filtration of the chyle, and of 
 the other humours of the body, were it my objeft to give 
 the groflTeft libertine a difguft for it. Its principal aft it- 
 ielf is accompanied with the fentiment of fliame, in the 
 men of all countries. No Nation permits publick profli- 
 tution ; and though enlightened Navigators may have ad- 
 vanced, that the inhabitants of Taiti conformed to this 
 infamous praftlce, obfervers more attentive have fince ad- 
 duced proof, that, as to the ifland in queftion, it was 
 chargeable only on young women in the loweft rank of So- 
 ciety, but that the other clafTes there preferved the fenfe of 
 modefty, common to all Mankind. 
 
 I am incapable of difcovering, in Nature, any direft 
 caufe of fhame. If it be alleged, that Man is afhamed of 
 the venereal aft, becaufe it renders him fimilar to the an- 
 imal, the reafon will be found infufficient ; for fleep, 
 drinking, and eating, bring him ftill more frequently tO 
 the fimilitude of the animal, and yet no fhame attaches to 
 thefe. There is, in truth, a caufe of fhame in the phyfic- 
 al aft : But whence proceeds that which occafions the 
 moral fentiment of it ? Not only is the aft carefully kept 
 out of fiorht, but even the recolleftion of it. Woraai* 
 
 VOL. II. C C C 
 
402 A VINDICATION of 
 
 confiders it as a proof of her weaknefs : She oppofes long 
 refiftance to the folicitations of Man. How comes it 
 that Nature has planted this obftacle in her heart, which, 
 in many cafes, aftually triumphs over the moft powerful 
 of propenfities, and the moft headftrong of pafTions ? 
 
 Independently of the particular caufes of fhame, which 
 are unknown to me, I think I difcern one in the two 
 powers of which Man is conftituted. The fenfe of love 
 being, if I may fo exprefs myfelf, the centre toward 
 which all the phyfical fenfations converge, as thofe of 
 perfumes, of mufic, of agreeable colours, and forms, of 
 the touch, of delicate temperatures and favours; there re- 
 fults from thefe a very powerful oppofition to that other 
 iHtelleftual power, from which are derived the fentiments 
 of divinity and imm.ortality. Their contraft is fo much 
 the more collifive, that the a6l of the firft is in itfelf ani- 
 mal and blind, and that the moral fentiment, which ufual- 
 iy accompanies love, is more expanfive and more fublime. 
 The lover, accordingly, in order to render his miftrefs 
 propitious, never fails to make this take the lead, and to 
 employ every effort to amalgamate it with the other fen- 
 fation. Thus, fhamc arifes, in my opinion, from the com- 
 bat of thefe two powers ; and this is the reafon that chil- 
 dren naturally have it not, becaufe the fenfe of love is 
 not yet unfolded in them ; that young perfons have a 
 great deal of it, becaufe thofe two powers are afting in 
 them with all their energy; and that moft old people 
 have none at all, becaufe they are paft the fenfe of love, 
 from a decay of Nature in them, or have loft its moral 
 fentiment, from the corruption of Society ; or, which is 
 a common cafe, from the effeft of both together, by the 
 concurrence of thefe two caufes. 
 
 As Nature has aifigned to the province of this paffion, 
 which is»defigned to be the means of reperpetuating hu- 
 man life, all the animal fenfations, flie has likewlfe united 
 in it all the fentim.ents of the foul \ fo that love prefents 
 to two lovers, not only the fentiments which blend with 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 403 
 
 our wants, and with the Inflinft of our mifery, fuch as 
 thofe of proteftlon, of affiftance, of confidence, of fup- 
 port, of repofe, but all the fublime inftin6ls, befides, 
 which elevate Man above humanity. In this fenfc it is 
 that Plato defined love to be, an interpofition of the 
 Gods in behalf of young people.* 
 
 * It was by means of the fublime inflaence of this paflion, that the Thc- 
 feans formed a battalion of heroes, called the facred band ; they all fell to- 
 gether in the battle of Cheronea. They were found extended on the ground, 
 all in the fame ftraight line, transfixed with ghaftly wounds before, and 
 with their faces turned toward the enemy. This fpeftacle drew tears from 
 the eyes of Philip himfelf, their conqueror. Lycurgus had likewife employ- 
 ed the power of love in the education of the Spartans, and rendered it one 
 of the great props of his republic. But, as the animal countcrpoife of this 
 celeftial fentiment was no longer found in the bslovcd objeft, it fomctimcs 
 threw the Greeks into certain irregularities, which have juftly been imput- 
 ed to them as matter of reproach. Their Legiflators confidered women as 
 the instruments merely of procreating children ; they did not perceive that, 
 by favouring love between men, they enfeebled that which ought to unite 
 the fexes, and that in attempting to ftrengthen their political bands, they 
 were burfting afunder thofe of Nature. 
 
 The Republic oi Lycurgus had, befides, other natural defefts; I mention 
 only one, the flivery of the Helots. Thefa two particulars, however, ex- 
 cepted, I confider him as the moft fublime genius that ever exiiled : And 
 even as to thefe he ftands, in fome meafure, excufeable, in confideration of 
 the obftacles of every kind which he had to encounter in the eftablifbraent 
 ■of his Laws. 
 
 There are, in the harmonies of the different ages of human life, relatior« 
 fo delightful, of the weaknefs of children to the vigour of their parents ; of 
 the courage and the love between young perfons of the two fexes to the vir- 
 tue and the religion of unimpallioned old people, that I am aftonifhcd 
 no attempt has been made to prefent a pitlure, at leaft, of a human fociety 
 thus in concord with all the wants of life, and with the Laws of Nature. 
 There arc, is is true, fome fketches of this fort, in the Telemachus^ among 
 others, in the manners of the inhabitants of Boctica ; but they arc indicated 
 merely. I am perfuaded that fuch a Society, thus cemented in all its parts, 
 would attain the higheft degree of focial felicity, of which human nature is 
 fufceptible in this World, and would be able to bid defiance to all the 
 ftorms of political agitation. So far from being expofcd to the fear of 
 danger, on the part of neighbouring States, it might make an eafy conqucil 
 of them, without the ufe of arms, as ancient China did, fimply by the fpec- 
 tacle of its felicity, and by the influence of its virtues. I once entertained 
 jkdefign, on the fuggeftion of /• 7- ^'"'i7<"?v, of extcnd'ng this idea, by 
 
404 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 Whoever would wifh to be acquainted with human na- 
 ture, has only to fludy that of love ; he would perceive 
 fpringing out of it, all the fentiments of which I have 
 fpoken, and a multitude of others, which I have neither 
 time nor talents to unfold. We fhall remark, firft, that 
 this natural affe^lion difclofes, in every being, its princi- 
 pal charafter, by giving it all the advantage of a complete 
 extenfion. Thus, for example, it is in the feafon when 
 each plant reperpetuates itfelf by its flowers and its fruit, 
 that it acquires all its perfeftion, and the charafters which 
 invariably determine it. It is in the feafon of loves that 
 the birds of fong redouble their melody, and that thofe 
 which excel in the beauty of their colouring, array them- 
 felves in their fineft plumage, the various ftiades of which 
 they delight to difplay, by fwelling their throats, by round- 
 ing their tail into the form of a wheel, or by extending 
 their wings along the ground. It is then that the lufty 
 bull prefents his forehead, and threatens with the horn ; 
 that the nimble courfer frifks along the plain ; that the 
 ferocious animals fill the forefts with the dreadful noife 
 of their roaring, and that the tigrefs, exhaling the odour 
 of carnage, makes the folitudes of Africa to refound 
 with her hideous yells, and appears clothed with every hor- 
 rid, attraftive grace, in the eyes of her tremendous lover. 
 
 It is, likewife, in the feafon of loving, that all the af- 
 feftions,. natural to the heart of Man, unfold themfelves. 
 Then it is that innocence, candour, fincerity, modefly, 
 generofity, heroifm, holy faith, piety, exprefs themfelves, 
 with grace ineffable, in the attitude and features of two 
 young lovers. Love afTumes, in their fouls, all the char- 
 afters of religion and virtue. They betake themfelves to 
 flight, far from the tumultuous affemblies of the city, from 
 the corruptive paths of ambition, in quefl of fome fequef- 
 
 compofme; the Hiftory of a Nation of Greece, well known to the Poets, be- 
 caufe it lived coaformabiy to Nature, and, for that very reafon, almoft alto- 
 gether unknown to our political Writers ; but time permitted mc only to 
 trace the outline gf it, or, at mc^, to ftnilh the firft Book, 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^c^ 
 
 tered fpot, where, tipon the rural altar, they may be at 
 liberty to mingle and exchange the tender vou's of ever- 
 lafting afFeftion. The fountains, the woods, the dawnino- 
 Aurora^ the conftellations of the night, receive by turns 
 the facred depofit of the oath of Love. Loft, at times, in 
 a religious intoxication, they confider each other as beino-s 
 of a fuperior order. The miftrefs is a goddefs, the lover 
 becomes an idolater. The grafs under their feet, the air 
 which they breathe, the ihades, under which they rcpofe, 
 all, all appear confecrated in their eyes, from filJing the 
 fame atmofphere with them. In the widely extended U- 
 niverfe, they behold no other felicity but that of living 
 and dying together, or, rather, they have loft all fight of 
 death. Love tranfports them into ages of infinite du- 
 ration, and death feem»to them only the tranfition to eter- 
 nal union. 
 
 But fhould cruel deftiny feparate them from each other, 
 neither the profpefts of fortune, nor the friendihip of com- 
 panions the moft endeared, can afford confolation under 
 the lofs. They had reached Heaven, they languilh on tha 
 earth, they are hurried, in their defpair, into the retire- 
 ment of the cloifter, to employ the remaining dregs of life, 
 in redemanding of God the felicity of which they enjoy- 
 ed but one trar>fient glimpfe. Nay, many an irkfome 
 year after their feparation, when the cold hand of age has 
 frozen up the current of fenfe ; after having been dif- 
 trafted by a thoufand and a thoufand anxieties foreign to 
 the heart, which fo many times made them forget that they 
 were human, the bofom ftill palpitates at fight of the tomb 
 which contains the objc6t once fo tenderly beloved. They 
 had parted with it in the World, they hope, to fee it again 
 \n Heaven. Unfortunate hcloij'a ! \V'hat fublimc emotions 
 were kindled in thy foul by- the alhcs of thy Abclard ? 
 
 Such ceieftial emotions cannot poffibly be the effc61s 
 of a mere animal aft. Love is not a flight convulfion, as 
 the divine Marcus Aurelius calls it. It is to tlic charms 
 pf virtue, and to the fcntimcnt of her divine- attribute?, 
 
4o6 A VINDICATION of 
 
 that love is indebted for all that entliufiaftic energy. Vic^ 
 itfelf, in order to pleafe, is under the neceflTity of borro\\rT 
 ing its looks and its language. If theatrical female per- 
 formers captivate fo many lovers, the fedu6lion is carried 
 en by means of theillufions of innocence, of benevolence, 
 and of magnanimity, difplayed in the charafters of the 
 Iheplierdeffes, of the heroines, and of the goddefTes, which 
 they are accuftomed to reprefent. Their boafted graces 
 are only the appearances of the virtues which they coun- 
 terfeit. If fometimes, on the contrary, virtue becomes 
 difpleafmg, it is becaufe fhe exhibits herfelf in the difguife 
 of harfhnefs, caprice, peevifhnefs, or forae other repulfive 
 bad quality. 
 
 Thus, beauty is the offspring of virtue, and uglinefs 
 that of vice ; and thefe charafters frequently imprefs 
 themfelves from the earliefl infancy by means of educa- 
 tion. It will be objefted to me, that there are men hand- 
 fome, yet vicious, and others homely, yet virtuous. Soc- 
 rates and Alcibiades have been adduced as noted inftances, 
 in ancient times. But thefe very examples confirm my 
 pofition. Socrates was unhappy and vicious at the time 
 of life when the phyfiognomy affumes its principal char- 
 acters, from infancy up to the age of feventeen years. He 
 wa's born in a poor condition ; his father had determined, 
 notwithflanding his declared reluftance, to breed him to 
 the art of fculpture. Nothing lefs than the authority of 
 an oracle could refcue him from this paternal tyranny. 
 Socrates acknowledged, in conformity to the decifion of a 
 Phyfiognomift, that he was addifted to \vomen and wine, 
 the vices into which men are ufually thrown by the pref- 
 fure of calamity : At length, he became reformed, and 
 nothing could be more beautiful than this Philofopher, 
 when he difcourfed about the Deity. As to the happy 
 Alcibiades, born in the very lap of fortune, the leffons of 
 Socrates, and the love of his parents and fellow citizens, 
 expanded in him, at once, beauty of perfon and of foul ; 
 but having been, at lafl, betrayed into irregular courfe^ 
 
DIVEINPROVIDENCE. 4©/ 
 
 through the influence of evil communications, nothing 
 remained but the bare phyfiognomy of virtue. Whatever 
 feduftion may be apparent in their firfl afpeft, the ugli- 
 nefs of vice foon difcovers itfelf on the faces of handfome 
 men degraded into wickednefs. You can perceive, even 
 under their fmiles, a certain marked trait of falfehood and 
 perfidy. This difTonance is communicated even to the 
 voice. Every thing about them is mafked, like their 
 face. 
 
 I beg leave, farther, to obferve, that all the forms of 
 organized beings exprefs intelleftual fentiments, not on- 
 ly to the eyes of Man, who ftudies Nature, but to thofe 
 of animals, which are inftruQed, at once, by their inftinft, 
 in fuch particulars of knowledge, as are, in many refpefts, 
 fo obfcure to us. Thus, for example, every fpecies of 
 animal has certain traits, which are expreflive of its char- 
 after. From the fparkling and refllefs eyes of the tiger, 
 you may difcover his ferocity and perfidy. The gluttony 
 of the hog is announced by the vulgarity of his attitude, 
 and the inclination of his head toward the ground. All 
 animals are perfeftly well acquainted with thofe charac- 
 ters, for the Laws of Nature are univerfal. For inftance, 
 though there be in the eyes of a man, unlefs he is very 
 attentive, an exceedingly flight exterior difference between 
 a fox and a fpecies of dog which refembles him, the hen 
 will never miftake the one for the other. She will take 
 no alarm on the approach of the dog, but will be feized 
 with horror the inftant that the fox appears. 
 
 It is, ftill farther, to be remarked, that every animal 
 exprefles, in its features, fome one ruling paflTion, fuch as 
 cruelty, fenfuality, cunning, ftupidity. But Man alone, 
 unlefs he has been debafed by the vices of Society, bears 
 upon his countenance the imprefs of a celcftial origin. 
 There is no one trait of beauty but what may be referred 
 to fome virtue : Such an one belongs to innocence, fuch 
 another to candour, thofe to generoflty, to modefly, to hc- 
 roifm. It is to their influence that Man is indebted in 
 
4bh . A VINDICATION op 
 
 every country, for the refpeft and confidence with whicli 
 he is honoured by the brute creation, unlefs they have 
 been forced out of Nature by unrelenting perfecution on 
 the part of Man. 
 
 Whatever charms may appear in the harmony x)f the 
 colours and forms of the human figure, there is no vifible 
 reafon why its phyfical effeft fhould exert an influence 
 over animals, unlefs the imprefs of fome moral power 
 were combined with it. The plumpnefs of form, or the 
 irefhnefs of colouring, ought rather to excite the appetite 
 of ferocious animals, than their refpeft or their love. Fi- 
 nally, as we are able to diflinguifh their impalTioned char- 
 acter, they, in like manner, can diflinguifh ours, and are 
 capable of forming a very accurate judgment as to our 
 being cruel or pacific. The game birds, which fly the 
 fanguinary fowler, gather confidently around the harm- 
 lefs fhepherd. 
 
 It has been affirmed, that beauty is arbitrary in every 
 Nation ; but this opinion has been already refuted by an 
 appeal to matter of fa61. The mutilations of the Negroes, 
 their incifions into the fl<.in, their flattened nofes, their com- 
 prefTed foreheads ; the flat, long, round and pointed heads 
 of the favages of North America; the perforated lips of 
 the Brafilians; the large ears of the people of Laos, in 
 Afia, and of fome Nations of Guiana, are the efFefts of 
 fuperfli.tion, or of a faulty education. The ferocious 
 animals themfelves are Rruck at fight of thefe deform- 
 ities. All travellers unanimoufiy concur in their te[' 
 timony, that when lions or tigers are famiflied, which 
 rarely happens, and thereby reduced to the necefTity of at- 
 tacking caravans in the night time, they fall firft upon 
 the beafis of burden, and next upon the Indians, or the 
 black people. The European figure, with its fimplicity, 
 has a much more impofing efifeft upon them, than when 
 disfigured by African or Afiatic charafters. 
 
 When it has not been degraded by the vices of Socie- 
 ty, its exprefTion is fublimc. A Neapolitan, of the name 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 40^ 
 
 of John Baptijle Porta, took it into his head to trace in it 
 relations to the figures of the bcafts. To this effeft, he 
 has compofed a book, embellifhed with engravings, repre- 
 fenting the human head under the forced refemblance of 
 the head of a dog, of a horfe, of a flieep, of a hog and of 
 an ox. His fyftem is fomewhat favourable to certain mod- 
 ern opinions, and forms a very tolerable alliance with the 
 hideous chancres which the paflions produce in the human 
 form. But 1 Ihould be glad to know after what animal 
 Pi^alle has copied that charming Mercury which I have 
 feen at Berlin ; and after the pafTions of what brutes the 
 Grecian Sculptors produced the Jupiter of the Capitol, 
 the Venus pudica, and the Apollo of the Vatican ? In 
 what animals have they ftudied thofe divine expreflions ? 
 I am thoroughly perfuaded, as I have faid already, that 
 there is not a fingle beautiful touch in a figure, but what 
 may be allied to fome moral fentiment, relative to virtue 
 and to Deity. The traits of uglinefs might be, in like 
 manner, referred to fome vicious afFe6Hon, fuch as jeaU 
 oufy, avarice, gluttony, or rage. In order to demonftrate 
 to our Philofophers, how far they are wide of the mark, 
 when they attempt to make the paflions the only moving 
 principles of human life, 1 wilh they could be prefented 
 with the exprefhon of all the pafTions, collefted in one 
 fmgle head ; for example, the wanton and obfcene leer of 
 a courtezan, with the deceitful and haughty air of an am- 
 bitious courtier ; and accompanied with an infufion of 
 fome touches of hatred and erivy, which are negative am- 
 bitions. A head which fhould unite them all would be 
 more horrid than that of Medufa ; 'd would be a likenefs 
 of Nero. 
 
 Every pafTion has an animal charafter, as John Baptijie 
 Porta excellently obferved. . But every virtue, too, has 
 its animal chataaer ; and never is a phyfiognomy more 
 interefling than when you diflinguifli in it a celellial af- 
 feftion conflifting with an animal pafTion. Nay, I do not 
 know whether it be polTible to exprefs a virtue otherwife 
 VOL. II. D d d 
 
4 16 A VINDICATION o? 
 
 than by a triumph of this kind. Hence it is that moderfy* ' 
 appears {o lovely on the face of a young fenaale, becaufe 
 it is the confli6l of the moft powerful of animal paffions 
 with a fubiime fentiment. The expreflipn of fenfibility, 
 likewife, renders a face extremely interefling, becaufe the 
 foul, in this cafe, fliews itfelf in a Hate of fufFering, and be- 
 caufe the fight of this excites a virtue in ourfelves, name- 
 Jy, the fentiment of compafFion. If the fenfibility of the 
 figure in queftion is aftive, that is, if it fprings, itfelf, out 
 of the contemplation of the mifery of another, it ftrikes 
 us fliil more, becaufe then it becomes the divine expref- 
 (ion of generofity. 
 
 I have a conviftion, that the moft celebrated ftatues and 
 piftures of Antiquity owe much ot their high reputation 
 entirely to the expreflion of this double character, that is, 
 to the harmony arifing out of the two oppofite fentiments 
 of paflion and virtue. This much is certain, that the moft 
 juftly boafted mafterpieces, in fculpture and painting, a- 
 mong the Ancients, all prefented this kind of contraft. 
 Of this abundance of examples might be adduced from 
 their ftatues, as the Venus pudica^ and the dying Gladia- 
 tor, who preferves, even when fallen, refpeft for his own 
 glory, at the moment he is finking into the arms of death. 
 Such, likewife, was that of Cupid hurling the thunder af- 
 ter the infant Alcibiades^ which Pliny afcribes to PraxitC' 
 les^ or to Scopas. An amiable child, launching from his 
 little hand the dread thunderbolt oi " Jupiter ^ muft excite, 
 at once, the fentiment of innocence, and that of terror. 
 With the charafter of the God was blended that of a man 
 equally attra£live and formidable. 
 
 I believe that the paintings of the Ancients exprefTed, 
 ft ill better, thofe harmonies of oppofite fentiments. Pliny, 
 who has preferved to us the memory of the moft noted of 
 them, quotes, among others, a pifture by Athenian of Ma- 
 ronea, which reprefented the cautious and crafty Vlyjfes 
 detetling Achilles under the difguife of a young woman, 
 by prefenting an aflbrtment of female trinkets, among 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 411 
 
 ^hich he had carelcfsly, and without appearance of art, 
 introduced a fword. The lively emotion with which A~ 
 ihilles. lays hold of that fword, mull have exhibited a 
 charming contrail with the habit, and the compofed de- 
 portment of his nymph charafter. There muft have re- 
 fulted another, no lefs interefting, in the charafter df Ulyf- 
 Jts, with his air of referve, and the expreflion of his fat- 
 isfaftion, under the reflraint of prudence, fearful left, in 
 difcovering Achilles, he ftiould at the fame time betray 
 himfelf. 
 
 Another piece, ftill more affefting, from the pencil of 
 Arijlidas of Thebes, reprefented Biblis languifhing to 
 ideath of the love which fhe bare to her own brother. In 
 it there muft have been diftin6lly reprefented the fenti- 
 ment of virtue, repelling the idea ot a criminal paflion, 
 and that of fraternal friendfliip, which recalled the heart 
 to love, under the very appearances of virtue. Thefe cru- 
 el confonances, defpair at the thought of being betrayed 
 by her own heart, the defire of dying, in order to conceal 
 her fhame, the defire of life to enjoy the fight of the be- 
 loved obje6l, health wafting away under the prelfure of 
 conflifts fo painful, muft have exprefl"ed, amidft the lan- 
 guors of death and of life, contrafts the moft interefting, 
 on the countenance of that ill fated maid. 
 
 In another piclure, of the fame Arijiides, was reprefent- 
 ed to admiration, a mother wounded in the breaft, during 
 the fiege of a city, giving fuck to her inlant. She feemed 
 afraid, fays Plitiy, left it fliould draw in her blood, togeth- 
 er with her milk. Alexander prized it fo highly, that he 
 had it conveyed to Pella, the place of his birth. What 
 emotions muft have been excited, in contemplating a tri- 
 umph fo exalted as that of maternal afFeftion abforbing a^l 
 fenfe of perfonal fufFering ! PouJJin, as we have feen, has 
 borrowed from this virtue, the principal expreffion oi his 
 piclure of the Deluge. 
 
 Rubens has employed it, in a moft wonderful manner, 
 in giving expreftion to the face of his Mary de Medici s, 
 
412 A VINDICATION of 
 
 in which you diflinguifh, at once, the anguifh, and the joy 
 of child bearing. He farther heightens the violence of 
 the phyfical paflion, by the carelefs attitude into which 
 the Queen is thrown, in an eafy chair, and by her naked 
 foot, which has fhaken off the flipper ; and, on the other 
 hand, conveys the fublimity of the moral fentiment awak- 
 ened in her, by the high defliny of her infant, who is 
 prefented to her by a God, repofed in a cradle of bunches 
 of grapes and ears of corn, fymbols of the felicity of his 
 reign. 
 
 It is thus that the great Mafters, not fatisfied with op- 
 pofing mechanically groups of figures and vacuity, fhades 
 and lights, children and old men, feet and hands, purfue 
 with unremitting care, thofe contrafts of our internal pow- 
 ers which exprefs themfeives on " the human face di- 
 *' vine," in touches ineffable, and which muft conftitute' 
 the eternal charm of their produftions. The Works of 
 Le Sueur abound in thefe contrafts of lentiment, and he 
 places them in fuch perfeft harmony with thofe of the el- 
 emenjtary nature, that the refult from them is the fweeteft, 
 and the moft profound melancholy. But it has been much 
 eafier for his pencil to paint, than it is for my pen to de- 
 scribe them. 
 
 1 ffiall adduce but one example more to my prefent pur- 
 pofe, taken from PouJJtn, an Artift moft admirable for his 
 ikill in graphic compofition, but whofe colours have fuf- 
 fered confiderably from the hand of time. The piece to 
 •which I refer is his pifture of the rape of the Sabine wom- 
 en. While "the Roman foldiery are carrying off by force, 
 in their arms, the terrified young women of the Sabines, 
 there is a Roman officer, who is defirous of getting pof- 
 feffion of one extremely beautiful as well as young. 'She 
 has taken refuge in the arms of her mother. He dares 
 not prefume to offer violence to her, but feems to addrefs 
 the mother with all the ardour of love, tempered with 
 refpeft ; his countenance thus fpcaks : " She will he 
 " happy with me ! Let me be indebted for her to love?/- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 413 
 
 " and not to fear ! I am lefs eager to rob )'Oii of a daugh- 
 *' ter, than to give you a fon." It is thus that, while he 
 conforms himfelf, in drefling his charafters, to the fimplic- 
 ity ot the age, which rendered all conditions nearly fimi- 
 lar, he has diftinguifiied the officer from the foldier, 
 not by his garb, but by hi^ manners. He has caught, as 
 he ufually does, the moral charatler of his fubjc6l, which 
 produces a very different effeft from that of mere cojiume. 
 
 I fliould have been extremely happy had we been fa- 
 voured from the pencil of the fame ingenious Artift, with 
 a reprefentation of thefe fame female Sabines, after they 
 had become wives and mothers, rufhing in between the 
 two contending armies of the Sabines and Ronjans, " Run- 
 *' ning," as Plutarch tells us, " fome on this fide, others 
 *' on that, in tears, ihrieking, exclaiming ; thrufting them- 
 " felves through the clafliing of arms, and heaps of tlie 
 " dead flrewed along the ground, like perfons trantic, or 
 *' pofTeffed with a fpirit, carrying their fucking infants in 
 *' their arms, with hair diflievelled, appealing now to Ro- 
 *' mans, now to Sabines, by every tender adjuration that 
 *' can reach the heart of Man.'"* 
 
 The moft powerful effefts of love, as has been faid, a- 
 rife out of contradiftory feelings, melting into each other, 
 jufl as thofe of hatred, frequently, are produced trom fim- 
 ilar fentiments which happen to clafh. Hence it is 
 that no feeling can be more agreeable than to find a friend 
 in a man whom we confiderod as an enemy ; and no mor- 
 tification fo poignant as meeting an enemy in the man 
 whom we depended upon as a friend. Thefe harmonic 
 effe6~ts frequently render a flight and tranfient kindnefs 
 more eflimiable tlian a continued feries ot good offices ; 
 and a momentary offence more outrageous than the declar- 
 ed enmity of a whole life time ; becaufe, in the firfl cA\\ 
 feelings diametrically oppofite gracioufly unite ; and, in 
 the fccond, congenial feelings violently clafh. Hence too 
 
 "•^ Plutarch's Liic oi.RcnuUs. 
 
^14 A VINDICATION of 
 
 it is, that a fmgle bleraiih, amidft the vahiable qualities 
 of a man of worth, frequeiuly appears more offenfive than 
 all the vices of a libertine, who difplays only a folitary 
 virtue, becaufe, from the efFe6l of contrail, jthefe two qual- 
 ities become more prominent, and eclipfe the others in the 
 two oppofite chara6lers. it proceeds, likewife, from the" 
 weaknefs of the human mind, which, attaching itfelf al- 
 ways to a fingle point of the objeft which it contemplates, 
 fixes on the moft prominent quality, in framing its decif- 
 ions. It is impolTible to enumerate the errors into which 
 we are every day falling, for want of lludying thefe ele- 
 mentary principles of Nature. It would be poffible, un. 
 doubtedly, to extend them much farther ; it is fufficient 
 for my purpofe, if I have given a demonftration of their 
 exiftence, and infpired others with an inclination to apply 
 them properly. 
 
 , Thefe harmonies acquire greater energy from the ad- 
 joining contrails which detach them, from the confonan- 
 ces which repeat them, and from the other elementary Laws 
 which have been indicated ; but if with thefe are blend- 
 ed fome one of the moral fentiments of which I have been 
 prefenting a faint iketch in this cafe, the effe6l refulting 
 irom the whole is inexprelTibly delightful. Thus, for ex- 
 ample, a harmony becomes, in fome fort, ceieftial, when it 
 contains a my fiery, which always fuppofes fomething mar- 
 vellous .and divine. I one day felt a mofl agreeable effeft, 
 as I was looking over a ccHeftion of old prints, which 
 yeprefented the hiflory of Adorns, Venus had llolen the 
 infant Adonis from Diana, and was educating him with 
 her fon Cupid. Diana ^vas c' ...crmined to recover him, as 
 being the fon of one of her ny nphs, Venus, then, having, 
 on a certain day, alighted fr^-.n her chariot, drawn by 
 doves, was walking with the two boys in a valley of Cyth- 
 cra. Diana, at the head of her armed retinue, places her- 
 feli in ambulh, in a forell through which Venus was to 
 pafs. Venus, as loon as ihe perceived her adverfary ap- 
 proaching, and incapable either to eicape, or to prevent 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 41^ 
 
 the recapture of Adorns, was inftantly ftruck with the 
 thought of clapping wings on his fhoulders, and prefent- 
 ing Cupid and him together to Diana, defired her to take 
 either of the children. which Ihe believed to, be her prop- 
 erty. Both being equally beautiful, both of the fame age, 
 and both furnifhed with wings, the chalte Goddefs of the 
 woods was deterred from choofmg either the one or 
 the other, and refrained from taking Adonis, for fear of 
 taking Cupid. 
 
 This fable contains feveral fentimental beauties. I re- 
 lated it one day to J. J. Roujfeau, who was highly de- 
 lighted with it. *' Nothing pleafes me fo much," faid he, 
 *' as an agreeable image, which conveys a moral fenti- 
 *' ment !" We were at that time in the plain of Neuilly, 
 near a park, in which we faw a group of Love and 
 Friendfhip, under the forms of a^ young man and young 
 woman, of fifteen or fixteen years of age, embracing each 
 other with mouth to mouth. Having looked at it, he faid 
 to me, " Here is an obfcene image prefented, after a 
 *' charming idea. Nothing could have been more agree- 
 *' able, than a reprefentr^.tion of the two figures in their 
 *' natural flate : Friendfhip, as a grown young woman 
 " carefling an infant Cupid.'' Being on that interefting 
 fubjeft, I repeated to him the conclufion of that touching 
 fable of Philomela and Progne. 
 
 Le dt^fert eft-il fait pcur des talcns fi beaux ? 
 Venez faireaux cites eclater leurs merveilles : 
 
 Auffi bien, en voyant Ics bois, 
 Sans cefle il vous fouvient que Tcree autrefois, 
 
 Parmi des dcmeures parcilles, 
 Exeica fafureur fur vos divins appas. — 
 Et c'cft le fouvenir d'un fi cruel outrage, 
 Qui fait, reprit fafccur, que je ne vous fuis pas : 
 
 En voyant les hommcs, hclas ! 
 
 II m'en fouvient bien d'avantage. 
 
 Why wafte fuch fweetnefs on the defcrt air! 
 
 Come, charm the city with thy tuneful note. 
 Think, too, in folltude, that form fo fair 
 
 Felt violation ; flee the horrid thought. 
 
4i6 A VINDICATION of 
 
 Ah ! filler dear, fad Philomel replies, 
 
 'Tis this that makes me fhun the haunts of men : 
 
 Te: ens and Courts the anguifh'd heart allies, 
 And haftes, for fhclter, to the woods again. 
 
 ** What a feries of ideas!" cried he, "how tenderly 
 *' afFefting it is !" His voice was flifled, and the tears 
 rufhcd to his eyes. 1 perceived that he was farther mov- 
 ed by the fecret correfpondencies between the talents and 
 tl^e dcfliny of that bird, and his own fituation. 
 
 It is obvious, then, in the two allegorical fubjeQs of 
 Diana and Adonis^ and of Love and Friendship, that 
 there are really within us, two diftinft powers, the har- 
 monies of which exalt the foul, when the phyfical image 
 throws us into a moral fentiment as in the firft example ; 
 and abafe it, on the contrary, when a moral fentiment rc- 
 cals us to a phyfical fenfation, as in the example of Love 
 and Friendship. 
 
 The fupprelTed circumlfances contribute farther to tlie 
 moral expreflions, becaufe they are conformable to the 
 expanfive nature oi the foul. They cenduft it over 
 avail field of ideas. It is to thefe fuppreflions that the 
 iable of the Nightingale is indebted for the powerful ef- 
 feft which it produces. Add to thefe a multitude of oth- 
 er oppofitions, which I have not leifurc to analyze. 
 
 The farther that the phyfical image is removed from us, 
 the greater extenfion is given to the moral fentiment; and 
 the more circumfcribed the firfl is, the more energetic 
 the fentiment is rendered. It is this, undoubtedly, which 
 communicates fo much force to our afFe6fions, when we 
 regret the death of a friend. Grief, in this cafe, conveys the 
 foul fr6m one World to the other, and from an objcft full of 
 charms to a tomb. Hence it is, that the following paf- 
 fage from Jeremiah contains a flrain of fublime melan- 
 choly : Vox in Rama audita ejl ; ploratus & utulatus 
 viultus : Rachel plorans Jtlios fuos^ ^ noliiit confolari^ 
 quia 7ion JunL *' A voice was heard in Ramah, lamen- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 4,7 
 
 ^' tation and bitter weeping ; Rachael weeping for her 
 '* children, refufed to be comforted for her children, bc- 
 *' caufe they were not."* All the confolations which this 
 World can adminifter, are dafhed to pieces againfl this 
 word of maternal anguifh, nonjiint. 
 
 The fingle jet d'eau of Saint Cloud pleafes me more 
 than all its cafcades.. However, though the phyfical im- 
 age fhould not efcape, and lofe itfelf in infinity, it may 
 convey forrow thither, when it reflefts the fame fcntiment. 
 I find, in Plutarch, a noble effeft of this progreflive con- 
 fonance. " Brutus,'' fays he, *' giving all up for loft, 
 *' and having refolved to withdraw frorri Italy, palfcd by 
 " land through Lucania and came to Elea, which is fitu- 
 ** ated on the fea fide. Portia being to return from thence 
 *' to Rome, endeavoured to conceal the grief which op- 
 " prefled her, in the profpeft of their approaching fepar- 
 *' ation ; but, with all her refolution and magnanimity, 
 *' flie betrayed the forrow which was preying on her heart, 
 •* on feeing a pifture which there accidentally caught her 
 " eye. The fubjeft of the piece was taken from the Iliad, 
 *' and reprefented the parting of hcBor and Andromache^ 
 *' when he was preparing to take the field, and at the in- 
 " ftant when he was delivering the infant AJlyanax into 
 ** the arms of his mother, while her eyes remain immove- 
 " ably fixed on He&or, The refemblance which the 
 " pitlure bore to her own diftrefs made her burft into 
 " tears ; and feveral times a day fhe reforted to the place 
 *' where it hung, to gaze at it, and to weep before it, 
 *' This being obferved by Acilius, one of the friends of 
 ** Brutus, he repeated the paffage from Homer, in which 
 *' Andromache expreflcs her inward emotion : 
 
 ¥.x.rcop drocp av [aoi 'sicl Tta-rrip xat 'norvix y.-niftp, 
 
 * Jeremiah, chap. xxxi. ver. 15. 
 VOL. II. Ogg 
 
i8 A VINDICATION of 
 
 Yet while my HcBor ftill furvivcs, I fee 
 My father, mother, kindred, all in thee, 
 My wedded Lord 
 
 *' Brutus replied, with a fmile, But I mujl not anfwer 
 •' Portia in the words of HeBor to Andromache: 
 
 ATOC SIS' oiKQV \aaa^ ra, axvrriS spycx. xo/u-t^s, 
 Ifov r Tj'kQOLx.rriv re, xa» afx'^'i'ncXoKyi yJXsvs. 
 
 haflen to thy tafks at home, 
 
 There guide the fpindle, and direft the loom. 
 
 " For though the natural weaknefs of her body prevents 
 *' her from aBing what the firength of men only can per- 
 *' form, yetfhe has a mind as valiant, and as adivefor the 
 " good of her Country as we have.'' 
 
 This pifture was, undoubtedly, placed under the perif- 
 tyle of fome temple, built on the fliore of the Sea. Brutus 
 was on the point of embarking without pomp, and with- 
 out a retinue. His wife, the daughter of Cato, had ac- 
 companied him, perhaps on foot. The moment of fepara- 
 tion approaches ; in order to foothe her anguifh, Ihe fixes 
 her eyes on that painting, confecrated to the Gods. She 
 beholds in it the laft, long farewel of Heflor and Andro?n- 
 ache; fhe is overwhelmed; and to reanimate her forti- 
 tude, turns her eyes upon her hufband. The comparifon 
 is completed, her courage forfakes her, tears gulh out, 
 conjugal affeftion triumphs over love of Country. Two 
 virtues in oppofition ! Add to thefe the charafters of a 
 wild nature, which blend fo well with human grief: Pro- 
 found folitudc, the columns and the cupola of that antique 
 temple, corroded by the keen air of the Sea, and marbled 
 over with molTes, which give them the appearance of 
 green bronze ; a fetting Sun, which gilds the fummit of 
 it ; the hollow murmurs of the Sea, at a di (lance, breaking 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 419 
 
 along the coafl of Liicania ; the towers of Elea percepti- 
 ble, in the bofom of a valley, between two fteep moun- 
 tains, and that forrow of Portia, which hurries us back to 
 the age of Andromache. What a pifture, fuggcfted by the 
 contemplation of a pifture ! O, ye Artifts, couW you but 
 produce it, Portia would, in her turn, call forth many a 
 tear. 
 
 I could multiply, without end, proofs of the two pow- 
 ers by w^hich we are governed. Enough has been faid on 
 the fubjeft of a pafTion, the inllinft of which is fo blind, 
 to evince that we are attrafted to it, and aftuated by it, 
 from Laws widely diflPerent from thofe of digcftion. Our 
 affeftions demonftrate the immortality ot the foul, bccaufe 
 they expand in all the circumftances, in which they feel 
 the attributes of Deity, fuch as that of infinity, and never 
 dwell with delight on the Earth, except on the attraftions 
 ©f virtue and innocence. 
 
 ©F SOME OTHER SENTIMENTS OF DEITY, AND A 
 MONO OTHERS, OF THAT OF VIRTUE. 
 
 There are, befides thefe, a great number of fentimental 
 Laws, which it has not been in my power, at prefcnt, to 
 unfold : Such are thofe which fuggeft prefentiments, o- 
 mens, dreams, the reference of events, fortunate and un- 
 fortunate, to. the fame epochs and the like. Their effefts 
 are attefted among Nations, polifhcd and favage, by Writ- 
 ers profane and facred, and by every man who pays atten- 
 tion to the Laws of Nature. Thefe communications of 
 the foul, with an order of things invifible, arc rejefted by 
 the learned of modern times, becaufe they come not with- 
 in the province of their fyftems and of their almanacks ; 
 tut how many things cxift, which are not reducible to the 
 
42© A VINDICATION OF 
 
 plans of our reafcn, and which have not been fo much as 
 perceived by it ! 
 
 There are particular laws which demonftrate the im- 
 mediate aftion of Providence on the Human Race, and 
 which are oppofite to the general Laws of Phyfics. For 
 example, the principles of reafon, of paffion and of fenti- 
 ment, as well as the organs of fpeech and of hearing, are 
 the fame in men of all countries ; neverthelefs, the lan- 
 guage of Nations differs all the world over. How comes 
 it that the art of fpeech is fo various among beings who all 
 have the fame wants, and that it fhould be conflantly 
 changing in the tranfmifTion from father to fon, to fuch a 
 degree, that we modern French no longer underftand the 
 language of the Gauls, and that the day is com.ing, when 
 our pofterity will be unable to comprehend ours ? The 
 ox of Bengal bellows like that of the Ukraine, and the 
 nightingale pours out the fame melodious ftrains to this 
 day, in our climates, as thofe which charmed the ear of 
 the Bard of Mantua, by the banks of the Po. 
 
 It is impoflible to maintain, though it has been alleged 
 by certain Writers of high reputation, that languages are 
 charafterized by climates ; for, if they w^ere fubjefted to 
 influence of this kind, they would never vary in any coun- 
 try, in which the climate is invariable. The language of 
 the Romans was at firft barbarous, afterwards majeilic, 
 and is become, at laft, foft and effeminate. They are not 
 rough to the North, and foft to the South, as J. J. Rouf- 
 J'tau pretends, who, in treating this point, has given far 
 too great extenfion to phyfical Laws. The language of 
 the Ruflias, in the North of Europe, is very foft, being a 
 dialeft of the Greek ; and the jargon of the fouthern 
 provinces of France is harfh and coarfe. The Laplanders, 
 who inhabit the fhores of the Frozen Ocean, fpeak a lan- 
 guage that is very grateful to the ear; and the Hotten- 
 tots, who inhabit the very temperate climate of the Cape 
 of Good Hope, cluck like India cocks. The language of 
 the Indians of Peru is loaded with ilrong afpirations and. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ^^^ 
 
 eonfonants of difficult pronunciation. Any one, wjihout 
 going out of his clofet, may diftinguifh the different char- 
 afters of the language of each Nation, by the names pre- 
 fented on the geographical charts of the Country, and mav 
 fatisfy himfelf that their harfhnefs, or foftnefs, has no 
 relation whatever to thofe of Latitude. 
 
 Other obfervers have afTerted, that the languages of 
 Nations have been determined and fixed by their great 
 Writers. But the great Writers of the age of Au^ujlus 
 did not fecure the Latin language from corruption, prc- 
 vioufly to the reign of Marcus Aurtlius. Thofe of the 
 age of Louis XIV, already begin to be antiquated amona 
 ourfelves. If pofterity fixes the chara6ler of a language 
 to the age which was produftive of great Writers, it is 
 not becaufe, as they allege, it is then at its greateft puri- 
 ty ; for you find in them as many of thofe inverfions of 
 phrafeology, of thofe decompofuions ot words, and of 
 thofe embarraffed fyntaxes, which render the mciaphyfi- 
 cal ftudy of all Grammar tirefome and barbarous ; but it 
 is becaufe the Writings of thofe great men fparkle with 
 maxims of virtue, and prefent us with a thoufand perfpcc- 
 tives of the Deity. 1 have no doubt that the fuhlime 
 fentiments which infpire them, illuminate them dill in 
 the order and difpofition of their Works, feeing they are 
 the fources of all harmony. From this, if 1 am not mif- 
 taken, refults the unalterable charm which renders the pe- 
 rufal of them fo delicious, at all times, and to the men of 
 all Nations. Hence it is that Plutarch has eclipfed moft 
 of the Writers of Greece, though he was of the age nei- 
 ther of PericUs, nor of Alexander ; and that the tranfla. 
 tion of his Works into old French, by the good Amyot^ 
 will be more generally read by pollerity than moft ot the 
 original Works produced even in the age of Louis XIV. 
 It is the moral goodnefs of a period which charafterizes a 
 language, and which tranfmits it unaltered to the genera- 
 tion following. This is the reafon that the languages, the 
 cuftoms and even the form of drelTcs arc, in ACa, tranf- 
 
422 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 mitted inviolably from generation to generation, becaufe 
 fathers, all over that Continent, make themfelves beloved 
 by their children. But thefe reafons do not explain the 
 diverfity of language which fubfifts between one Nation 
 and another. It mufl ever appear to me altogether fuper- 
 natural, that men who enjoy the fame elements, and are 
 fubjefted to the fame wants, fhould not employ the fame 
 words in exprefling them. There .is but one Sun to illu- 
 minate the whole Earth, and he bears a different name in 
 every different land. 
 
 1 beg leave to fuggeft a farther effeft of a Law to which 
 iittle attention has been paid ; it is this, that there never 
 arifes any one man eminently diflinguiflied, in whatever 
 line, but there appears, at the fame time, either in his own 
 Country, or in fome neighbouring Nation, an antagonifl, 
 polfefrmg talents, and a reputation, in complete oppofition : 
 Such were Democritus and Herachtus, Alexander and 
 Diogenes^ Defcartes and Newton, Corneille and Racine^ 
 Bojfuet and Fenelon, Voltaire and J, Jf. Ronjfeau. I had 
 collefted, on the fubjeft of the two extraordinary men lafl 
 mentioned, who were contemporaries, and who died the 
 fame year, a great number of ftri^ures, which demon- 
 ff rate that, through the whole courfe of life, they prefented 
 a ftriking contrail in refpe6l of talents, of manners, and 
 of fortune : But I have relinquiflied this parallel, in order 
 to devote my attention to a purfuit which I deemed much 
 more ufeful. 
 
 This balancing of illuftrious charafters will not appear 
 extraordinary, if we confider that it is a confequence from 
 the general Law of contraries, which governs the World, 
 and from which all the harmonies of Nature refult : It mufl, 
 therefore, particularly manifell itfelf in the Human Race, 
 which is the centre of the whole ; and it aftually does 
 difcovcr itfelf, in the wonderful equilibrium, conformably 
 to which the two fcxes are born in equal numbers. It 
 does not hx on individuals, in particular, for we fee fam- 
 ilies confillinrr wholly of daughters, and others all fons; 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 423 
 
 but it embraces the aggregate of a whole city, and of a 
 Nation, the male and female children of which are always 
 produced very nearly equal in number. Whatever ine- 
 quality of fex there may exift in the variety ot births in 
 families, the equality is conflantly reftored in the aggre- 
 gate of a people. 
 
 But there is another equilibrium rw lefs wonderful, 
 which has not, I believe, become an objeft of attention. 
 As there are a great many men who perifh in War, in fea 
 voyages, and by painful and dangerous employments, it 
 would thence follow, that, at the long run, the number cf 
 vv^omen would daily go on in an increafmg proportion. 
 On the fuppofition, that there perilhes annually one tenth 
 part more of men than of women, the balancing of the 
 fexes muft become more and more unequal. Social ruin 
 muft increafe from the very regularity of the natural or^ 
 der. This, however, does not take place ; the two fexes 
 are always, very nearly, equally numerous : Their occu- 
 pations are different ; but their deftiny is the fame. The 
 women, who frequently impel men to engage in hazard- 
 ous enterprizes to fupport their luxury, or who foment 
 animofities, and even kindle wars among them, to gratify 
 their vanity, are carried off, in the fecurity ofplcafure 
 and indulgence, by maladies to which men are not fub- 
 je6l ; but which frequently refult from the moral, phyfi- 
 cal and political pains which the men undergo in confe- 
 quence of them. Thus the equilibrium of birtli between 
 the fexes, is reeftablifned by the equilibrium of death. 
 
 Nature has multiplied thofe harmonic contrafts in all 
 her Works," relatively to Man ; for the fruits which min- 
 ifter to our neceffities, frequently poffefs, in themfelves, 
 oppofite qualities, which ferve as a mutual compenfation. 
 
 Thefe effefts, as has been elfewhere demonftrated, are 
 not the mechanical refults of climate, to the qualities of 
 which they are frequently in oppofition. All the Works 
 of Nature have the wants of Man for their end ; as all 
 the fentiments of Man have Deity for their principle 
 
424 A VINDICATION o? 
 
 The final intentions of Nature have given to Man the 
 knowledge of all her Works, as it is the inftinft of Deity 
 which has rendered Man fuperior to the Laws of Nature. 
 It is this inftinft which, differently modified by the paf- 
 fions, engages the inhabitants of RufTia to bathe in the 
 ices of the Neva, during the fevereft cold of Winter, as 
 well as the Nations of Bengal in the waters of the Gan- 
 ges ; which, under the fame Latitudes, has rendered wo- 
 men flaves in the Philippine Iflands, and defpots in the 
 Ifland of Formofa; which makes men effeminate in the 
 Aloluccas, and intrepid in MacafTar; and which forms, 
 in the inhabitants of one and the lame city, tyrants, citi- 
 zens and flaves. 
 
 The fentiment of Deity is the firfl mover of the human 
 heart. Examine a man in thofe unforefeen moments, 
 when the fecret plans of attack and defence, with which 
 focial man continually enclofes himfelf, are fupprefTed, 
 not on the fight of a vafl ruin, which totally fub verts 
 them, but fimply on feeing an extraordinary plant or ani- 
 mal : " Ah, my God !" exclaims he, " how wonderful 
 " this is !" and he invites the firft perfon who happens to 
 pafs by, to partake of his aftonifhment. His firff emo- 
 tion is a tranfport of delight which raifes him to God; 
 and the fecond, a benevolent difpofition to communicate 
 his difcovery to men ; but the focial reafon quickly recals 
 him to perfonal intercff. As foon as he fees a certain 
 number of fpe61:ators aiTembled round the obje61: of his cu- 
 riofity, *' It was I," fays he, *' who obferved it firfl." 
 Then, if he happens to be a Scholar, he fails not to ap- 
 ply his fyftem to it. By and by he begins to calculate how- 
 much this difcovery will bring him in; he throws in fome 
 additional clrcumflances, in order to heighten the appear- 
 ance of the marvellous, and he employs the whole credit 
 of his junto to puff it off, and to perfecute every one who 
 prefumes to differ from him in opinion. Thus, every 
 natural fentiment elevates us to God, till the weight of 
 our pafTions, and of human inftitutions, brings us back a- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 425 
 
 gain to felf. J. J. Roiijfeau was, accordingly, in the 
 right, when he faid that Man was good, but that men were 
 wicked. 
 
 It was the inftin6l of Deity which firft affembled men 
 together, and which became the bafis of the Religion and 
 of the Laws whereby therir union was to be cemented. On 
 this it was that virtue found a fupport, in propofmg to 
 herfelf the imitation of the Divinity, not only by the ex- 
 ercife of the Arts and Sciences, which the ancient Greeks, 
 for this efFeft, denominated the petty virtues ; but in the re- 
 fult of the divine power and intelligence, which is benef- 
 icence. It cbnfifted in efforts made upon ourfelves, for 
 the good of Mankind j in the view of pleafing God only. 
 It gave to Man the fentiment of his own excellence, by in- 
 fpiring him with the contempt of terreflrial and tranfient 
 enjoyments, and with a defire after things celeflial and 
 immortal. It was this fublime attraftion which exiSted 
 courage to the rank of a virtue, and which made Man ad- 
 vance intrepidly to meet death, amidft fo many anxieties 
 to preferve life. Gallant i' AJfas^ What had you to hope 
 for on the Earth, when you poured out your blood in the 
 night, without a witnefs, in the plains of Klofterkam, for 
 the falvation of the French army ? Aod you, generous 
 Eujiace de St. Pierre, what recompenfe did you expe6l 
 from your Country, when you appeared before her tyrants, 
 with the halter about your neck, ready to meet an infa-: 
 mous death, in laving your fellow citizens ? Of what a- 
 vail, to your infenfible afhes, were the ftatues and the elo- 
 giums which pofterity was one day to confecrate to your 
 memory ? Could you fo much as hope for this reward, 
 in return for facrifices either unknown, or loaded with 
 dpprobrioufnefs ? Could you be flattered, in ages to come, 
 with the empty homage of a world feparated from you by 
 eternal barriers ? And you, more glorious flill in the fight 
 of God, obfcure citizens, who fink inglorioufly into the 
 grave ; you, whofe virtues draw down upon your heads 
 fhame, calumnV, perfecution, paverty, contempt, even o» 
 VOL. II. F f f 
 
4^6 A VINDICATION of 
 
 the part of thofe who difpenfe the honours of a prefent 
 ftate, could you have forced your way through paths h 
 dreary and fo rude, had not a light from Heaven illumu 
 naPed your eyes ?* 
 
 * It is impoflible for virtue to fubfift independently of Rtligion. I do 
 rot mean the theatrical virtues, which attraft publick admiration, and that, 
 many a time, by means fo contemptible, that they may be rather confider- 
 ed as fo many vice«. The very Pagans have turned them into ridicule. 
 See what Marcus Aurefius has faid on the fubjeft. By virtue I underftand 
 t^e good which we do to men, without expeftation of reward on their 
 part, and, frequency, at the expenfe of fortune, nay, even of reputation. 
 Analyze all thofe whofe traits have appeared to you the moft ftriking j 
 there is no one of them but what points out Deity, nearer or more remote, 
 I fhall quote one not generally known, and fmgularly interefting from its 
 very obfcurily. 
 
 In the laft war in Germany, a Captain of cavalry was ordered out on a 
 foraging party. He put himfelf at the head of his troop, and marched to 
 the quarter affigned him. It was a folitary valley, in which hardly any 
 thiri'g but woods could be fecn. In the midft of it flood a little cottage; 
 on perceiving it, he went up, and knocked at the door ; out comes an an- 
 cient Hcrnouten, with a beard filvered by age. " Father," fays the officer, 
 
 ** {hew me afieid where I can fet my troopers a foraging." «« Pref- 
 
 *'cntly," replied the HcJnouten. The good old man walked before, and 
 conduced them out of the valley. After a quarter of an hour's march, 
 they found a fine field of barley : •< There is the very thing we want," 
 
 /ays the Captain ** Have patience for a few minutes," replies hi» 
 
 guide, *' you fiiall be fatisfied." They went on, and, at the diflance 
 of about a quarter of a league farther, they arrived at another field of bar- 
 Icy. The troop, immediately difmounted, cut down the giain, truffed it 
 up, and remounted. The officer, upon this, fays to his conduftor, " Fath- 
 er, you have given yourfelf and us unnecefTary trouble; th; firft field wax 
 
 much better than this" «* Very true, Sir," replied the good old man, 
 
 *« but it was not mine." 
 
 This ftroke goes direftly to the heart. I defy an athelft to produce me 
 any thing once to be compared with it. It may be proper to obferve^ 
 that the Hernoutens are a fpecies of Quakers, fcattered over fome cantons of 
 Germany. Certain Theologians have maintained, that heretics were inca- 
 pable of virtue, and that their good aftions were utterly deftitute of merit. 
 As I am no Theologian, I fliall not engage in this metaphyfical difcuffion, 
 though I might oppofe to their opinion the fentiments of St. Jerome^ and 
 even thofe of St. Peter, with refpcdlto Pagans, when he fays to Cornelius the 
 centurion. "Of a truth, I perceive that God is no refpefter of perfons ; but 
 «* in every Nation, he that fcar?th Him, and woikcth ri^hteoufnefs. is ac- 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 427 
 
 This T€fpe£l for virtue, is the fource of that which we 
 pay to ancient Nobility, and which has introduced, in 
 procefs of time, unjuft and odious di^erences among men, 
 
 ** cepted with Him."* But I fnould be glad to krrow what thofe Theolo- 
 gians think of the charity of the good Samaritan, who was a fchifmatic. 
 "Surely they will not venture to ftart objeftions againft a decifion pronounc- 
 ed by Jesus Christ himfelf. As the fimplicity and depth of his divine 
 lefponfes, form an admirable contraft with the difhoncfty and fubtilty of 
 modern doftors, I Ihall tranfcribe the whole paflbge from the Gofpel, word 
 for word. 
 
 *' And behold, a certain lawyer flood up, and tempted him, faying, 
 *• Mafter, What fhall I do to inherit eternal life? 
 
 ** He faid unto him, What is written in the law ? HowTcadeft thou ? 
 '* And he, anfwering, faid, Thou (halt love the Lorj) thy God with all 
 *» thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy flrength, and with all 
 ♦« thy mind ; and thy neighbour as tlryfelf. 
 
 *♦ And he faid unto him, Thou haft anfwered right : This4oand thou 
 «' fhalt live. 
 
 '• But he, willing to juftify himfelf, faid unto Jisus, And, Who is my 
 -** neighbour ? 
 
 *' And JESus anfwering, faid, A certain man went down from Jerufa- 
 <» lem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, wiiich ftripped him of his rai- 
 '* ment, and wounded him^ and departed, leaving him half dead. 
 
 ** And by chance there came down a certain prieft chat way 4 and when 
 ^* he faw him, he paffed by on the other fide. 
 
 *' And likewife a Levite, when he was at the place came and looked on 
 «* Am, and pafled by on the other fide, 
 
 *' But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came whene he was; and when 
 «* he faw him, he had compaflion on him. 
 
 «* And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pourFng in oil arid wine, 
 ** and fct him on his own beaft, and brought him to an inn, and lodk care 
 •* of him. 
 
 «» And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, and 
 ** gave thevi to the hoft, and faid unto him, TaJce care of him ; and whatfo- 
 *» ever thoufpendeft more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 
 
 t' Which now of thefe three, thinkcft thou was neighbour unto him that 
 ** fell among the thieves ? 
 
 ♦♦ And he faid, He that fhewed mercy on him. Then faid Jesus unt© 
 «* him, Go, and do thou likewife." + 
 
 I fhall be carefully on my guard againft adding any reflexions of ray 
 ^wn on this fubject, except this fimple obiervation, that the adion pf th-? 
 
 * A€ls of the Apoflles, chap, x. ver. 34, 35. 
 
 f Luke, chap. x. ver, 25 — 3 7^ 
 
428 A VINDICATION of 
 
 whereas, originally, it was defigned to eftablifh among 
 them, refpeftable diflinftions alone. Th5 Afiatics, more 
 equitable, attached nobility only to places rendered il, 
 luftrious by virtue. An aged tree, a well, a rock, objefts 
 of liability, appeared to them as alone adapted to perpetu- 
 ate the memory of what was worthy of being re^nembered. 
 There is not, all over Afia, an acre of land, but what is 
 dignified by a monument. The Greeks and Romans who 
 ifTued out of it, as did all the other Nations of the World, 
 and who did not remove far from it, imitated, in part, the 
 cuftoms of our firft Fathers. But the other Nations which 
 fcattered therafelves over the reft of Europe, where they 
 were long in an erratic ftate, and who withdrew from 
 thofe ancient monuments of virtue, chofe rather to look 
 for them in the pofterity of their great m§n, and to fee 
 the living images of them in their children. This is the 
 reafon, in my opinion, that the Afiatics have no Nobleffe, 
 and the Europeans no monuments. 
 
 This inftinft of Deity conftitutes the charm of the per- 
 formances which we perufe with mo ft delight. The 
 Writers to whom we always return with pleafure, are not 
 the moft fprightly, that is, thofe who abound the moft in 
 the facial reafon which endures but for a moment, but 
 thofe who render the aQion of Providence continually 
 
 Samaritan is far fuperior to that of the Hcmouten ; for, though the fecond 
 makes a great facrifice, he is in fome f6rt determined to it by force : A 
 field mud of neceflity have been fubjcftcd to forage. But the Samaritan en- 
 tirely obeys the impulle of humanity. His a£lion is free, and his charity 
 fpontarneous. This ftrifture, like all thofe of the Gofpel, contains, in a kw 
 ■words, a multitude of clear and forcible inflruftions, refpefting the duties 
 incuicated in the fecond tabic of the Law. It would be impoflible to re- 
 place them by others, were imagination itfelf permitted to diftate them. 
 Weigh all the circumftances of the reliefs and perfevering charity of the Sa- 
 maritan. He dreflcs the wounds of an unfortunate wretch, and places him 
 on his own horfe j he expofcs his own life to danger, by flopping, and 
 walkiiig on foot, in a place frequented by thieves. He afterwards makes 
 provifion, in the inn, for the future, as well as for the prefent, necelfities 
 of the unhappy man, and continues his journey, without expefting any rcc- 
 smpeufc w.hatcvcr from the gratitude of the petfon whom he bad fuccoured. 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 
 
 429 
 
 piFcfent to us. Hence it is that Homer, Virgil, Xenophon^ 
 Plutarch^ Fenelon, and molt of the ancient Writers, are 
 immortal, and pleafe the men of all Nations. For the 
 fame reafon it is, that books of travels, though, for the 
 moft part, written very artlefsly, and though decried by 
 multitudes of various orders in Society, who difcern in 
 them an indire6f cenfure of their own conduft, are, never- 
 thelefs, the moft interefting part of modern reading ; not 
 only becaufe they difclofe to us fome new benefits of Na- 
 ture, in the fruits and the animals of foreign countries, but 
 becaufe of the dangers by land an4 by water which their 
 authors have efcaped, frequently beyond all reafonable ex- 
 peftation. Finally, it is becaufe the greatell part of our 
 very learned produftions ftudioufly fteer clear of this 
 natural fentiment, that the perufal of them is fo very dry 
 and difgufting, and that pofterity will prefer Herodotus 
 to David Hume^ and the Mythology of the Greeks to all 
 our treatifes on Phyfics ; becaufe \^e Jove ftill more to 
 liear-die liftions of Deity blended wiiji the Hiftory of 
 men, than to fee the reafon of men in the Hiftory of De- 
 
 This fublime fentiment infpires Man with a tafte for 
 the marvellous, who, from his natural weaknefs, miWl 
 have ever been crawling on the ground, of whiclji he is 
 formed. It balances in him the fentiment of his mifery, 
 which attaches him to the pleafures of habit; and it exalts 
 his foul, by infyfmg into him continually the defire of 
 novelty. It is the harmony of human life, and the foyrce 
 of every thing delicious and enchanti9g that we meet with 
 in the progrefs of it. With this it is that the illufions of 
 love ever veil themfelves, ever reprefenting the beloved 
 pbjeft as fometbing divine. It is this which opens to 
 ambition perfpecliv^s without end. A peafant appears 
 defirous of nothing in the V/orid, but to become the 
 church warden of his village. 3e not deceived in the 
 man! open to him a career without any impediment in 
 his way ; he is groom, he becomes highwaym^, captain 
 
^3o A VINDICATION of 
 
 of the gang, a commander in chief of armies, a king, aad 
 never refts till he is worfhipped as a God. He fhali be a 
 Tamerlane ox a Mahomet. 
 
 An old rich tradefman, nailed to his eafy chair by the 
 ffout, tells us, that he has no higher ambition than to die 
 in peace. But he fees himfelf eternally renovating in 
 his pofterity. Ke enjoys a fecret delight in beholding 
 them mount, by the dint of his money, along all the af- 
 cending fleps of dignity and honour. He himfelf reflefts 
 HOt that the moment approaches when he fhall have noth- 
 ing in common with that pofterity, and that while he is 
 congratulating himfelf on being the fource of their future 
 glory, they are already employing the upftart glory which 
 they have acquired, in drawing a veil over the meannefs 
 of their original. The atheift himfelf, with his negative 
 wifdom, is carried along by the fame impulfe. To no 
 purpofe does he demonflrate to himfelf the nothingnefs, 
 and the fluftuation of sU things : His reafon is at variance 
 ■with his heart. He flatters himfelf inwardly with the 
 hope, that his book, or his monument, will one day attraft 
 the homage ©f pofterity ; or, perhaps, that the book, or 
 the tomb, of his adverfary will ceafe to be honoured. 
 He miftakes the Deity, merely becaufe he puts' himfelf 
 in his palce. 
 
 With the fentiment of Deity, every thing is great, noble, 
 beautiful, invincible, in the moft contrafted fphere of hu- 
 man life ; without it, all is feeble, difpleafing, and bitter, 
 in the very lap of greatnefs. T*his it was which confer- 
 red empire on Rome and Sparta, by (hewing to their poor 
 and virtuous inhabitants the Gods as their proteftors and 
 fellow citizens. It was the deftruftion of this fentiment 
 which gave them up, when rich and vicious, to flavery ; 
 when they no longer faw, in the Uniyerfe, any other Gods 
 except gold and pleafure. To no purpofe does a man make 
 a bulwark around himfelf of the gifts of fortune ; the mo- 
 mcnt this fentiment is excluded from his heart, languor 
 takes poireflion of it. If its abfeuce is prolonged, he finks 
 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 431 
 
 into fadnefs, afterwards into profound and fettled melan- 
 choly, and finally into defpair. If this ftate of anxiety 
 becomes permanent, he lays violent hands on fiimfelf. 
 Man is the only fenfible being which deHroys itfelf in a 
 ftate of liberty. Human life, with all its pomp, »nd all 
 its delight, ceafes, to him, to have the appearance of life, 
 when it ceafes to appear to him immortal and divine.* 
 
 Whatever be the diforders of Society, this celeftial in-r 
 ftinft is ever amufmg itfelf with the children of men. It 
 infpires the man of genius, by difclofirrg itfelf to him un-- 
 der eternal attributes. It prefents to the Geometriciaa, 
 the ineffable progreflions of infinity ; to the Mufician, 
 rapturous harmonies ; to the Hiflorian, the immortal 
 fhades of virtuous men. It raifes a ParnalTus for the Po- 
 et, and an Olympus for the Hero. It iheds a luftre on 
 
 * Plutarch remarks, that Akxeniier did not abandon himfelf to thofe vx- 
 ccffes, which fullied the conclufion of his glorious career, till he believed 
 himfelf to bef^rfaken of the Gods. Not only does this fentiment become 
 a fource of mifery, when it feparales itfelf from our pleafures; but when, 
 from the effeft of our paffions, or of our inftitutions, which pervert the 
 Laws of Nature, it prefiTes upon our miferies ihemfclves. Thus, for ex- 
 ample, when after having given mechanical Laws to the operations of the 
 foul, we eome to make the fentiment of infinity to bear upon our phyfical 
 and tranfient evils ; in this cafe, by a juft reaftion, our mifery becomes in- 
 fupportable. I have prefented only a faint (ketch of the two principles it» 
 Mw ; but to whatever fenfation of pain, or of pleafure, they may be 
 applied, the difference of their nature, and their perpetual reaflion, will 
 be felt. 
 
 On the fubjeftof Jlexavder forfaken of the Gods, it is matter of furprlfe 
 to me, that the exprefTion of this fituation fhonld aot have infpircd the ge- 
 nius of fome Grecian Artift. Here is what I find on this fubjcft in Addtfon z 
 «« There is in the fame gallery, (at Florence) a fine buft of Alexander thr 
 " Great, with the face turned toward Heaven, and impreffed with a certain 
 ♦♦ dignified air of chagrin and d»ITatisfaftion. I have feen two or thee an- 
 " sient hurts of Alexander, with the fame air, and in the fame attitude ; and 
 «« I am difpofed to believe, that the Sculptor purfued the idea of the'con- 
 « queror fighing after new worlds, or fome fimilar circumrtance of his Hif- 
 « tory." {Addi/o'n's Voyage to Italy.) I imagine that the circumrtance of 
 Alexander's Hiftory, to which thofe hurts ought to be referred, is that M'hich 
 reprefents him complaining of being abandoned of the Gods. I have no 
 doubt that it would have fixed the exquiGtc jadgraent of Mdifon, had here* 
 ooHefted i^ie obfervation made by Plutarch. 
 
492 A VINDICATION of, 6?r, 
 
 the unfortunate days of the labouring poor. Amidft tlie 
 luxury of Paris, it extra£ls a figh from the breafl of the 
 humble native of Savoy, after the facred covering of the 
 fnows upon his mountains. It expatiates along the vaft 
 Ocean, and recals, from the gentle climates of India, the 
 European mariner, to the llormy fhores of the Weft. 
 It beftows a country on the wretched, and fills with re- 
 gret thofe who have loft nothing. It covers our cradles 
 with the charms of innocence, and the tombs of our fore- 
 fathers with the hopes of immortality. It repofes in the 
 midft of tumultuous cities, on the palaces of mighty 
 Kings, and on the auguft temples of Religion. It fre- 
 quently fixes its refidence in the defert, and attrafts the 
 attention of the Univerfe to a rock. Thus it is that you 
 are clothed with maje%, venerable ruins of Greece and 
 Rome ; and you, too, myfterious pyramids of Egypt ! 
 This is the objeft which we are invariably purfuing, a- 
 midft all our reftlefs occupations ; but the moment it 
 difcovers itfelf to us, in fome unexpected a6l of virtue, 
 or in fome one of thofe events which may be denominated 
 ftrokes of Heaven, or in fome of thofe indefcribably fub- 
 lime emotions, which are called fentimental touches, by 
 way of excellence, its firft effeft is to kindle in the breaft 
 a very ardent movement of joy, and the fecond is to melt 
 us into tears. The foul, ftruck with this divine light, 
 exults, at once, in enjoying a glimpfe of the heavenly 
 Countrv, and finks at the thought of being exiled from it* 
 
 Oculis crranlibusal'.o 
 
 Qjaefivlt cceIo lucem, ingemuitquerepcna. 
 
 ^NEiDj Book IV, 
 
 ■VVith wandering eyescxplor'd the heavenly light, 
 'J'hcn llgh'cl, and funk into the {hades of night. 
 
 THE END- 
 
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 )^f?r^iP|F^ V -^^ 
 
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