Prefumption is our natural and original Infirmity: The moft wretched and frail of all Creatures is Prefumption an Man, and yet, withal, the proudeft: He fees Infirmity natu and feels himself lodged here in the Dirt and ral to Man. Naftiness of the World, nailed and riveted to the worst, the most stagnated, and moft corrupted Part of the Universe, in the lowest Story of it, and the fartheft from the Arch of Heaven, on the fame Floor with Animals of the worst Condition of the three Species P; yet, in his Imagination, he foars above the Orb of the Moon, and cafts the Sky under his Feet. By what Right be claims the Superiority a mals. By the Vanity of this fame Imagination he makes himfelf equal with God, attributes to himself Divine Qualities, withdraws and separates himfelf from the Croud of the other Creatures, carves for the Animals his Brethren and Com-ver the Anipanions, and distributes such a Portion of Faculty and Force to them as he thinks fit. How does he know, by the Strength of his Understanding, the internal and fecret Motives of the Animals? From what Comparifon, betwixt them and us, does he infer them to be fo stupid as he thinks them? When I play with my Cat, who knows whether Pufs is not more diverted with me than I am with Pufs? We divert each other with Monkey Tricks. If I have my Time of beginning, or leaving off, she also has her's. Plato, in his Picture of the Golden Age, under Saturn, reckons, among the principal Advantages that a Man then enjoyed, his Communication with the Beasts, of which, inquiring and informing himself, he knew their true Qualities, and wherein they differed, by which he acquired a very perfect Intelligence and Prudence, and led his Life more happily than we can do. Need we a fuller Proof to judge of human Impudence with regard to. Beafts? This great Author was of Opinion, that Nature, in the greater Part of the corporeal Form, which she had given them, had Regard only to the Ufe of the Prognoftications that were drawn from them in his Time. The Defect -P That is to fay, with the Animals of the Terreftrial Species, always creeping upon the Earth, and therefore of a worse kind than the two other Species that fly in the Air, or fwim in the Water. Book II Defect which hinders the Communication betwixt us and them, why is it not as bad for us as for them? 'Tis yet to determine, where the Fault is, that we do not underftand one another; for we don't understand them any more than they do us: For this very Reason they may reckon us Beafts, as we do them. 'Tis no great Wonder if we do not understand them, any more than we do the Bafques and the Troglodites: And yet fome have boasted, that they understood them; as, for Inftance, Apollonius Thyaneus, Melampus', Tirefias, Thales, &c. And fince, as Cofmographers fay, there are Nations that revere a Dog for their King, they muft, of Neceffity, put fome Construction upon his Voice and Motions. The Beafts communicate their Thoughts to one another, We must take Notice of the Parity there is betwixt us : We have a tolerable Understanding of their Senfe, and the Beasts have of our's much to the fame Degree: They threaten, carefs, and intreat us, and fo do we them: As for the reft, we plainly discover, that there is a full and intire Communication betwixt them, and that not only thofe of the fame Species, but even of different Species, understand one another. as well as Men. Et mute pecudes, et denique fecla ferarum, Diffimiles fuerunt voces variafque cluere, Cùm metus cut dolor eft, aut cùm jam gaudia glifcunt', i. e. The tamer Herds, and wilder fort of Brutes, Tho' we, and rightly too, conclude them Mutes ; From gentler Lungs, and more diftended Throats; The Dog has a certain kind of Barking, by which the Horfe knows he is angry; and another manner of Barking, which gives him no Fear: Even in the very Beasts, that: Apollodorus, lib. i. c. 9. fect. 11. ♪ Id. lib. iii. c. 6. lect. 7. Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. vi. fect. 30. Ex Africa parte Proembari, Proemphane qui canem pro rege habent, motu ejus imperia augurantes. Lucret. lib. v. v. 1058, . that make no Noife at all, we eafily conclude, from the focial Offices we obferve amongst them, that they have fome other Way of Communication: Their very Motions ferve the fame as Language, Non alià longè ratione atque ipfa videtur i. e. As Infants do, for Want of Words, devife and why not, as well as our dumb Folks, difpute, argue, and tell Stories by Signs: I have seen some so ready at this, that, really, they wanted nothing of the Perfection of making themselves understood: Lovers are angry, reconciled, intreat, thank, make Affignations, and, in short, fpeak every Thing by their Eyes. El filentio encor fuole i. e. Silence itself, in the fond Lover, . His am'rous Paffion will discover. Would you think it? With our very Hands we require, promife, call, difmifs, threaten, pray, fupplicate, deny, refufe, interrogate, admire, number, confefs, repent, fear, confound, doubt, inftruct, command, incite, encourage, fwear, teftify, accufe, condemn, abfolve, affront, defpife, defy, defpite, flatter, applaud, blefs, humble, mock, reconcile, recommend, exalt, entertain, rejoice, complain, grieve, repine, despair, wonder, exclaim, keep Silence, and what not; and all this with a Variation and Multiplication, even to the Emulation of Speech: With the Head we invite, difmifs, own, difown, give the Lye, welcome, honour, reverence, difdain, demand, refuse, rejoice, lament, carefs, rebuke, fubmit, huff, exhort, threaten, affure, and inquire: Would you think it, the fame with the Eye-brows? with the Shoulders? There's not a Mo Lucret. lib. v. v, 1058, c. choro, v. 34, 35. tion Aminte of Taffo, Atto ii. nel Book II. tion that does not fpeak both a Language intelligible, without Discipline, and a public Language; from whence it follows, that, confidering the Variety and diftinguished Ufe of the others, this ought rather to be judged the proper Language of human Nature. I omit what Neceffity particularly fuggefts, on a fudden, to those who are speechlefs; the Alphabets on the Fingers, Grammars in Gesture, and the Sciences that are only by them exercised and expreffed; nor do I mention the Nations which, Pliny fay's have no Language but nutus motúfque membrorum; i. e. the Nods and Motion of the Limbs. An Ambassador from the City of Abdera, after a long Speech he made to Agis, King of Sparta, demanded of him, What Anfwer must I return to my Fellow-Citizens? Tell them, faid he, that I have given thee Leave to say what thou wouldst, and as much as thou wouldft, without ever speaking a Word. Is not this a filent Way of speaking, and very easy to be understood? As to the reft, what kind of Sufficiency is there in us, which we do not observe in the Operations of the Animals? Is there a Police regulated with more Order, diverfified with more Charges and Offices, and more inviolably maintained than that of the Bees? Is it to be imagined, that fo regular a Difpofition of Actions and Offices could be made without Reafon and Prudence? The Capacity which is abferved in the Behaviour of the Brute Part of the Creation. His quidem fignis atque hæc exempla fequuti, Elle apibus partem divinæ mentis, et hauftus i. e. Some, from fuch Inftances as thefe, conclude The Swallows, that we fee, at the Return of the Spring, fearching all the Corners of our Houses for the most commodious Places wherein to build their Nefts, do they seek without Judgment, and, out of a thousand, chufe the fitteft for their Purpose, without Difcretion? And, in that elegant × Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. vi. c. 30. Plutarch, in his notable Sayings of the Lacedemonians, at the Word Agis. elegant and admirable Architecture of theirs, can the Birds prefer a square Figure to one that is round, an obtufe Angle to a right one, without knowing their Qualities and Effects? Do they first bring Clay, and then Water, without knowing that the Moisture of the latter foftens the Hardness of the former? Do they line their Palace with Mofs or Feathers, without foreseeing that it would be more foft and eafy for the tender Limbs of their Young? Do they covet Shelter from the rainy Winds, and place their Lodgings towards the Eaft, without knowing the different Qualities of thofe Winds, and confidering that one is more comfortable to them than another? Why does the Spider make its Web thicker at one Place than another, and why make one fort of Noofe now, and then another, if it has not Deliberation, Thought, and Conclufion? The Superiority of Nature to Art, an Inference which Montaigne draws from We fufficiently discover, in most of their Works, how much Animals excel us, and how unable our Art is to imitate them. We fee, nevertheless, that, to our more coarse Performances, we apply all our Faculties, and the utmoft Stretch of our Minds: Why do we not fet as muchValue upon them? Why should we attribute to I know not what natural and fervile Inclination the Works that excel all that we can. this Principle in favour of the Beafts, a gainst Men. do both by Nature and Art? In this, before we are aware, we give them a great Advantage over us, in making Nature, with the Tenderness of a Mother, accompany and lead them, as it were, by the Hand, to all the Actions and Conveniencies of their Life, whilft fhe abandons us to Chance and Fortune, and to fetch, by Art, the Things that are neceffary for our Prefervation; at the fame Time denying us the Means of being able, by any Inftruction or Struggle of the Understanding, to attain to the natural Capacity of Beafts; fo that their brutal Stupidity does, in all Conveniencies, furpafs all that our Divine Intelligence can do: Really, at this Rate, we fhould have good Reafon to call her a very unjuft Stepmother; but it is nothing fo, our Polity is not fo irregular and deformed. VOL. II. M Nature |