play the wisdom and goodness of Providence. But what at present I have chiefly in view, is to obferve, that government among brute animals, however fimple, appears to be perfect in its kind; and adapted with great propriety to their nature. Factions in the ftate are unknown: no enmity between individuals, no treachery, no deceit, nor any other of those horrid vices that torment the human race. word, they appear to be perfectly well qualified for that kind of society to which, they are prompted by their nature, and well fitted for being happy in it.

In a

Storing up the foregoing obfervations till there be occafion for them, we proceed to the focial nature of man. That men are endued with an appetite for fociety, will be vouched by the concurring teftimony of all men, each vouching for himfelf. There is accordingly no instance of people living in a folitary ftate, where the appetite is not obftructed by some potent obftacle. The inhabitants of that part of New Holland which Dampier faw, live in fociety, though less advanced above brutes than any other known favages; and fo intimate is their fociety, that they gather

their food and eat in common.

The in

habitants of the Canary Islands lived in the fame manner, when firft feen by Europeans, which was in the fourteenth century; and the favages mentioned by Condamine, drawn by a Jesuit from the woods to settle on the banks of the Oroonoko, muft originally have been united in fome kind of fociety, as they had a common language. In a word, that man hath an appetite for food, is not more certain, than that he hath an appetite for fociety. And here I have occafion to apply one of the obfervations made above. Abftracting altogether from the pleasure we have in fociety, fimilar to what we have in eating, evident it is, that to no animal is fociety more neceffary than to man, whether for food or for defence. In fociety, he is chief of the terreftrial creation; in a folitary ftate, the moft helplefs and forlorn. Thus, the first question fuggefted above, viz. To what end was a focial appetite bestowed on man, has received an answer, which I flatter myself will be fatisfactory.

The next queftion is, Whether the appetite embrace the whole fpecies, or be limited, as among other animals, to a foci

ety

ety of moderate extent.

That the appe

tite is limited, will be evident from history. Men, as far back as they can be traced, have been divided into fmall tribes or focieties. Most of these, it is true, have in later times, been united into large ftates: fuch revolutions, however, have been brought about, not by an appetite for a more extensive society, but by conqueft, or by the junction of small tribes for defence against the more powerful. A fociety may indeed be too small for complete gratification of the appetite; and the appetite thus cramped welcomes every perfon into the fociety till it have fufficient scope; the Romans, a diminutive tribe originally, were fond to affociate even with their enemies after a victory. But, on the other hand, a fociety may be too large for perfect gratification. An extenfive empire is an object too bulky; national affection is too much diffufed; and the mind is not at ease till it find a more contracted fociety, correfponding to the moderation of its appetite. Hence the numerous orders, affociations, fraternities, and divifions, that spring up in every great state. The ever-during Blues and Greens in the Roman empire, VOL. II. Ζ and

and Guelphs and Gibelines in Italy, could not have long fubfifted after the cause of their enmity was at an end, but for a tendency in the members of a great state to contract their focial connections *. Initiations among the ancients were probably owing to the fame caufe; as alfo affociations of artifans among the moderns, pretending mystery and fecrecy, and excluding all ftrangers. Of fuch affociations or brotherhoods, the free mafons excepted, there is scarce now a veftige remaining.

We find now, after an accurate fcrutiny, that the focial appetite in man comprehends not the whole fpecies, but a part only; and commonly a small part, precifely as among other animals. Here another final caufe ftarts up, no lefs remarkable than that explained above. An appetite to affociate with the whole fpecies, would form states so unwieldy by numbers, as to be incapable of any government. Our appetite is wifely confined within fuch limits, as to form ftates of moderate extent, which of all are the best fitted for good government:

The never ceafing factions in Britain proceed, not from a fociety too much extended, but from love of power or of wealth, to restrain which there is no fufficient authority in a free government.

and,

and, as we shall see afterward, are also the beft fitted for improving the human powers, and for invigorating every manly virtue. Hence an instructive leffon, That a great empire is ill suited to human nature; and that a great conqueror is, in more refpects than one, an enemy to mankind.

The limiting our focial appetite within moderate bounds, fuggefts another final caufe. An appetite to affociate with the whole fpecies, would collect into one society all who are not feparated from each other by wide feas and inacceffible mountains and confequently would diftribute mankind into a very few focieties, confifting of fuch multitudes as to reduce national affection to a mere fhadow. Nature hath wifely limited the appetite in proportion to our mental capacity. Our relations, our friends, and our other connections, open an extenfive field for the exercise of affection: nay, our country in general, if not too extenfive, would alone be fufficient to engross our affection. But that beautiful fpeculation falls more properly under the principles of morality: and there it fhall not be overlooked.

What comes next in order, is to exa