As

SI was walking this morning in the great yard that belongs to my friend's country-house, I was wonderfully pleafed to fee the different workings of instinct in a hen followed by a brood of ducks. The young, upon the fight of a pond, immediately ran into it; while the step-mother, with all imaginable anxiety, hovered about the borders of it, to call them out of an ele. ment that appeared to her fo dangerous and deftructive. As the different principle which acted in thefe different aninials cannot be termed reason, so when we call it instinct, we mean fomething we have no knowledge of. To me, as I hinted in my last paper, it seems the immediate direction of Providence, and fuch an operation of the fupreme Being, as that which determines all the portions of matter to their proper centres. A modern philofopher, quoted by Monfieur Bayle in his learned Differtation on the Souls of Brutes, delivers the fame opinion, though in a bolder form of words, where he fays Deus eft anima brutorum-God himself is the foul of brutes. Who can tell what to call that feeming fagacity in animals, which directs them to fuch food as is proper for them, and makes them naturally avoid whatever is noxious or unwholTome? Tully has obferved, that a lamb no fooner falls from it's mother, but immediately and of his own accord applies itfelf to the teat. Dampier, in his travels, tells us, that when feamen are thrown upon any of the unknown coafts of America, they never venture upon the fruit of any tree, how tempting foever it may appear, unless they obferve that it is marked with the pecking of birds; but fall on without any fear or apprehenfion where the birds have been before them.

But notwithstanding animals have no thing like the ufe of reason, we find in them all the lower parts of our nature, the paffions and fenfes in their greatest trength and perfection.

And here it is worth our observation,

VIRG. ECL. III. v. 60,

that all beafts and birds of prey are wonderfully fubject to anger, malice, revenge, and all the other violent paffions that may animate them in fearch of their proper food; as thofe that are incapable of defending themfelves, or annoying others, or whofe fafety lies chiefly in their flight, are fufpicious, fearful, and apprehenfive of every thing they fee or hear; whilst others that are of assistance and ufe to man, have their natures foftened with fomething mild and tractable, and by that means are qualified for a domeftic life. In this cafe the paffions generally correfpond with the make of the body. We do not find the fury of a lion in fo weak and defenceless an animal as a lamb, nor the meeknefs of a lamb in a creature fo armed for battle and affault as the lion. In the fame manner, we find that particular animals have a more or lefs exquifite sharpness and fagacity in those particular fenfes which mot turn to their advantage, and in which their fafety and welfare is the molt concerned.

Nor muft we here omit that great variety of arms with which nature has differently fortified the bodies of feveral kind of animals, fuch as claws, hoofs and horns, teeth and tusks, a tail, a fting, a trunk, or a probofcis. It is likewite obferved by naturalifts, that it must be fome hidden principle diftinct from what we call reafon, which inftructs animals in the use of these their arms, and teaches them to manage them to the beft advantage; because they naturally defend themfelves with that part in which their ftrength lies, before the weapon be formed in it; as is remarkable in lambs, which though they are bred within doors, and never faw the actions of their own fpecies, pufh at those who ap proach them with their foreheads, before the firft budding of a horn appears.

I fhall add to these general obfervations an inftance, which Mr. Locke has given us of Providence even in the imperfections of a creature which seems

the

the meanest and most defpicable in the whole animal world. We may,' fays he, from the make of an oyster, or cockle, conclude, that it has not fo many nor fo quick fenfes as a man, or feveral other animals: nor if it had, would it, in that ftate and incapacity • of transferring itself from one place to another, be bettered by them. What good would fight and hearing do to a creature, that cannot move itfelf to, or from the object, wherein at a diftance it perceives good or evil? And would not quickness of fenfation be an inconvenience to an animal that must be ftill where chance has once placed it, and there receive the afflux of colder or warmer, clean or foul water, as it happens to come to it.'

I fhall add to this inftance out of Mr. Locke another out of the learned Dr. More, who cites it from Cardan, in relation to another animal which Providence has left defective, but at the fame time has fhewn it's wifdom in the formation of that organ in which it feems chiefly to have failed.

'What is

" more obvious and ordinary than a mole? and yet what more palpable argument of Providence than the? The members of her body are fo exactly fitted to her nature and manner of life for her dwelling being under ground where nothing is to be seen, ⚫ nature has so obscurely fitted her with eyes, that naturalifts can hardly agree whether the have any fight at all or

no.

But for amends, what he is capable of for her defence and warning of danger, he has very eminently conferred upon her; for he is exceeding quick of hearing. And then her fhort tail and fhort legs, but broad forefeet armed with sharp claws, we fee by the event to what purpofe they are, the fo fwiftly working herfelf under ground, and making her way fo faft in the earth as they that behold it cannot but admire it. Her legs therefore are fhort, that the need dig no more than will ferve the mere thickness of • her body; and her fore-feet are broad, that the may fcoop away much earth at a time; and little or no tail fhe has, because the courfes not on the ground, like the rat or moufe, of whofe kindred fhe is, but lives under the earth; and is fain to dig herself a dwelling • there. And the making her way through fo thick an element, which

6

❝ will not yield easily, as the air or the water, it had been dangerous to have drawn fo long a train behind her; for her enemy might fall upon her rear, and fetch her out, before the had completed or got full poffeffion of her works."

I cannot forbear mentioning Mr. Boyle's remark upon this laft creature, who I remember fomewhere in his works obferves, that though the mole be not totally blind, as is commonly thought, fhe has not fight enough to distinguish particular objects. Her eye is faid to have but one humour in it, which is fuppofed to give her the idea of light, but of nothing elfe, and is fo formed that this idea is probably painful to the animal. Whenever he comes up into broad day fhe might be in danger of being taken, unleis fhe were thus affected by a light ftriking upon her eye, and immediately warning her to bury herfelf in her proper element. More fight would be ufelefs to her, as none at all might be fatal,

I have only inftanced fuch animals as feem the most imperfect works of nature, and if Providence fhews itself even in the blemishes of thefe creatures, how much more does it difcover itself in the feveral endowments which it has variously beftowed upon fuch creatures as are more or lefs finished and compleated, in their feveral faculties, according to the condition of life in which they are posted.

I could with our Royal Society would compile a body of natural hiftory, the beft that could be gathered together from books and obfervations. If the feveral writers among them took each his particular fpecies, and gave us a diftinct account of it's original, birth, and education; it's policies, hoftilities, and alliances, with the frame, and texture of it's inward and outward parts, and particularly those that diftinguish it from all other animals, with their peculiar aptitudes for the ftate of being in which Providence has placed them, it would be one of the best services their ftudies could do mankind, and not a little redound to the glory of the all-wife Contriver.

It is true, fuch a natural hiftory, after all the difquifitions of the learned, would be infinitely short and defective. Seas and defarts hide millions of animals from our obfervation. Innumera

ble

ble artifices and tratagems are acted in the howling wilderness and in the great deep, that can never come to our knowledge. Befides that there are infinitely more fpecies of creatures which are not to be feen without, nor indeed with, the help of the finest glafles, than of fuch as are bulky enough for the naked eye to take hold of. However, from the confideration of fuch animals as lie with in the compafs of our knowledge, we might easily form a conclufion of the reft, that the fame variety of wifdom

A

PUBL. SYR. FRAG.

Man's first care fhould be to avoid

the reproaches of his own heart; his next, to efcape the cenfures of the world: if the laft interferes with the former, it ought to be intirely neglected; but otherwise there cannot be a greater fatisfaction to an honest mind, than to fee thofe approbations which it gives itfelf feconded by the applaufes of the public: a man is more fure of his conduct, when the verdict which he paffes upon his own behaviour is thus warranted and confirmed by the opinion of all that know him.

My worthy friend Sir Roger is one of thofe who is not only at peace within himfelf, but beloved and efteemed by all about him. He receives a fuitable tribute for his univerfal benevolence to mankind, in the returns of affection and good-will, which are paid him by every one that lives within his neighbourhood. I lately met with two or three odd inftances of that general refpect which is fhewn to the good old knight. He would needs carry Will Wimble and myfelf with him to the county affizes: as we were upon the road, Will Wimble joined a couple of plain men who rid before us, and converfed with them for fome time; during which my friend Sir Roger acquainted me with their characters.

The first of them," fays he, that has a spaniel by his fide, is a yeoman of about an hundred pounds a year, 'an honest man: he is juft within the Game-act, and qualified to kill an

hare or a pheafant; he knocks down a dinner with his gun twice or thrice a week; and by that means lives much cheaper than thofe who have not fo good an estate as himself. He would be a good neighbour if he did not deftroy fo many partridges: in fhort, he is a very fenfible man; fhoots flying; and has been feveral times foreman of the petty-jury.

The other that rides along with him is Tom Touchy, a fellow famous for taking the law of every body. There is not one in the town where •he lives that he has not fued at a quarter-feffions. The rogue had once the impudence to go to law with the widow. His head is full of cofts, damages, and ejectments; he plagued a couple of honeft gentlemen fo long for a trefpafs in breaking one of his hedges, until he was forced to fell the ground it inclofed to defray the charges of the profecution: his father left him fourfcore pounds a year; but he has "caft" and been caft fo often, that he is not now worth thirty. I fuppofe he is going upon the old business of the willow-tree.'

As Sir Roger was giving me this account of Tom Touchy, Will Wimble and his two companions ftopped short until we came up to them. After having paid their refpects to Sir Roger, Will told him that Mr. Touchy and he must appeal to him upon a dispute that arofe between them. Will it feeins had been giving his fellow-traveller an account

of

of his angling one day in fuch a hole; when Tom Touchy, inftead of hearing out his ftory, told him that Mr. fuchan-one, if he pleased, might take the law of him for fishing in that part of the river. My friend Sir Roger heard them both, upon a round trot; and after having paufed fome time told them, with the air of a man who would not give his judgment rafhly, that much might be faid on both fides. They were neither of them diffatisfied with the knight's determination, because neither of them found himself in the wrong by it; upon which we made the best of our way to the affizes.

The court was fat before Sir Roger came; but notwithstanding all the juftices had taken their places upon the bench, they made room for the old knight at the head of them; who for his reputation in the country took occafion to whifper in the judge's ear, that he was glad his lordship had met with fo much good weather in his circuit.' I was listening to the proceeding of the court with much attention, and infinitely pleafed with that great appearance of folemnity which to properly accompanies fuch a public adminiftration of our laws; when, after about an hour's fitting, I obferved, to my great furprife, in the midst of a trial, that my friend Sir Roger was getting up to fpeak. I was in fome pain for him, until I found he had acquitted himself of two or three fentences, with a look of much business and great intrepidity.

Upon his first rifing, the court was hufhed, and a general whisper ran among the country people that Sir Roger' was up.' The fpeech he made was fo little to the purpose, that I fhall not trouble my readers with an account of it; and I believe was not fo much defigned by the knight himself to inform the court, as to give him a figure in my eye, and keep up his credit in the country. I was highly delighted when the court rofe, to see the gentlemen of the country gathering about my old friend, and ttriving who fhould compliment him moft; at the fame time that the ordinary people gazed upon him at a distance, not a little admiring his courage, that was not afraid to speak to the judge.

In our return home we met with a very odd accident; which I cannot forbear relating, because it fhews how defirous all who know Sir Roger are of

giving him marks of their efteem. When we were arrived upon the verge of his eftate, we stopped at a little inn to reit ourselves and our horfes. The man of the house had it feems been formerly a fervant in the knight's family; and to do honour to his old master, had some time fince, unknown to Sir Roger, put him up in a fign-poft before the door; fo that the knight's head' had hung out upon the road about a week before he himself knew any thing of the matter. As foon as Sir Roger was acquainted with it, finding that his servant's indifcretion proceeded wholly from affection and good-will, he only told him that he had made him too high a compliment; and when the fellow feemed to think that could hardly be, added with a more decifive look, that it was too great an honour for any man under a duke; but told him at the fame time, that it might be altered with a very few touches, and that he himself would be at the charge of it. Accordingly they got a painter by the knight's directions to add a pair of whiskers to the face, and by a little aggravation of the features to change it into the Saracen's-head. I fhould not have known this ftory had not the innkeeper, upon Sir Roger's alighting, told him in my hearing, that his honour's head was brought back laft night with the alterations that he had ordered to be made in it. Upon this my friend, with his ufual chearfulness, related the particulars above-mentioned, and ordered the head to be brought into the room. I could not forbear discovering greater expreffions of mirth than ordinary upon the appearance of this monftrous face, under which, notwithstanding it was made to frown and stare in a most extraordinary manner, I could till discover a diftant refemblance of my old friend. Sir Roger, upon feeing me laugh, defired me to tell him truly if I thought it poffible for people to know him in that difguife. I at first kept my ufual filence; but upon the knight's conjuring me to tell him whether it was not ftill more like himself than a Saracen, I compofed my countenance in the best manner I could, and replied, that much 'might be faid on both fides."

These feveral adventures, with the knight's behaviour in them, gave me as pleasant a day as ever I met with in any of my travels.

L N° CXXIII.