of Nature-wherefore has it disappeared to-day? Archimedes did not remain always in an ecstasy, from the discovery of the relations of metals in the crown of King Hiero. He after that made other discoveries more congenial to his mind: such as that of the cylinder circumscribed within the sphere, which he gave directions to have engraved on his tomb. Pythagoras contemplated at length with indifference the square of the hypothenuse, for the discovery of which he had vowed, it is said, a whole hecatomb of oxen to Jupiter. I recollect that when I first became master of the demonstration of those sublime truths, I experienced a delight almost as lively as that of the great men who were the first inventors of them. Wherefore is it extinguished? Why do I this day stand in need of novelties to procure me pleasure? The mere animal is in this respect happier than we are: what pleased him yesterday will likewise give him pleasure tomorrow: he fixes for himself a boundary which he never exceeds; what is sufficient for him, always appears to him beautiful and good. The ingenious bee constructs commodious cells, but never dreams of rearing triumphal arches, or obelisks, to decorate her waxen city. A cottage was in like manner sufficient for Man, in order to be as well lodged as a bee., What need had he of five orders of Architecture, of pyramids, of towers, of kiosques?

What then is that versatile faculty, called reason, which I employ in observing Nature? It is, say the Schools, a perception of correspondencies, which essentially

essentially distinguishes Man from the beast. Man enjoys reason, and the beast is merely governed by instinct. But if this instinct always points out to the animal what is best adapted to it's situation, it is therefore likewise a reason, and a reason more precious than ours, in as much as it is invariable, and is acquired without the aid of long and painful experience. To this the Philosophers of the last age replied, that the proof of the want of reason in beasts is this, that they act always in the same manner; thus they concluded, from the very per fection of their reason, that they had none. Hence we may see to what a degree great names, salaries, and associations, may give currency to the greatest absurdities; for the argument of those Philosophers is a direct attack on the Supreme Intelligence itself, which is invariable in it's plans, as animals are in their instinct. If bees uniformly construct their cells of the same figure, it is because Nature always makes bees of the same character.

I do not mean however to affirm that the reason of beasts and that of Man is the same: ours is without dispute much more extensive than the instinct of each animal in particular; but if Man is endowed with an universal reason, Must it not be because his wants are universal? He likewise discerns it is truc the wants of other animals; but may it not be relatively to himself that he has made this his study? If the dog gives himself no concern about the oats of the horse, it is perhaps because the horse is not subservient to the wants of the dog.

We possess, notwithstanding, natural adaptations

peculiar to ourselves, such as the art of agriculture, and the use of fire. The knowledge of these undoubtedly would demonstrate our natural superiority, were it not at the same time a proof of our wretchedness. Animals are under no necessity to kindle fires, and to cast seed into the ground, for they are clothed and fed by the hand of Nature. Besides, many of them have in themselves faculties far superior to our sciences, which are, if the truth might be told, foreign to us. If we have discovered some phosphoric substances, the luminous fly of the Tropics has in itself a focus of light which illuminates it during the night. While we are amusing ourselves in making experiments on electricity, the torpedo.is employing it in self-defence: and while the Academies and States of Europe are proposing considerable prizes to the person who shall discover the means of determining the Longitude at Sea, the paillencu and the frigat are every day performing a flight of three or four hundred leagues between the Tropics, from East to West, without ever failing to find in the evening the rock from which they took their departure in the morning.

Another mortifying insufficiency presents itself, when Philosophy attempts to employ, in combating the Intelligence of Nature, that very reason which can be of no use but to discern it. What plausible arguments are detailed, respecting the danger of the passions, the frivolity of human life, the loss of fortune, of honour, of children! You can easily unhouse me, divine Marcus Aurelius, and you too, sceptical Montagne; but you have

not

not provided for me another home. You put the staff of Philosophy into my hand, and say to me, walk on intrepidly; make the tour of the World, begging your bread; you are just as happy as we in our villas, with our wives, and respected by all around. But here is an evil of which you had no foresight. I have received, in my own country, calumny only as the reward of all my services; I have experienced nothing but ingratitude on the part of my friends, and even of my patrons; I am solitary, and have no longer the means of subsistence; I am a prey to nervous disorders; I stand in need of men, but my soul is troubled at the sight of them, while I reflect on the fatal reasons by which they are united, and feel that there is no pos sibility of interesting them, but by flattering their passions, and by becoming as vicious as they are. What good purpose does it serve to have studied virtue? It shudders at such recollections, and even without any reflection, merely at the sight of men. The first thing that fails me is that very reason on which you desire me to lean for support. All your fine logic vanishes, precisely at the moment when I have most need of it. Put a reed into the hand of a sick person: the very first thing that will drop from him, when attacked by a fit of illness, is that same reed; if he ventures to rest his whole weight upon it, most 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 occasion for all this reasoning; besides, I do not drop, in the vigour of life, into the arms of death,

but dying and reasoning no longer, still however feeling and suffering.*

What is, once more, that reason of which we boast so triumphantly? As it is nothing more than the relation of objects to our wants, it is reduced then to mere personal interest. Hence it is that we have so many family reasons, reasons of associa tions, reasons of state; reasons of all countries, and of all ages; hence it is, that the reason of a young

Thus, Religion has greatly the superiority over Philosophy, in as much as she supports us not by our reason but by our resignation. She would have us not on foot and stirring about, but stretched on a bed of languishing: not on the theatre of the World, but reposing at the footstool of the Throne of God; not tormented with solicitude about futurity, but confident and composed. When books, honours, fortune, and friends forsake us, she presents us as a pillow for our head, not the recollection of our frivolous and theatrical virtues, but that of our insufficiency; and instead of the arrogant maxims of Philosophy, she demands of us only calmness, peace, and filial confidence,

I must make one reflection more respecting this reason, or which amounts to the same thing, respecting this ingenuity of which we are so vain namely this, that it appears to be the result of our miseries. It is very remarkable, that the Nations which have been most celebrated for their wit, their arts, and their industry, were the most miserable on the face of the Earth, from their government, their passions, or their discords. Read the history of the lives of most men who have been distinguished by the superiority of their intellectual powers, and you will find that they were extremely miserable, especially in their childbood. One-eyed persons, the lame, the hump-backed have in general more wit than other men, because, from being more disagreeably conformed, they apply their reasoning powers toward observing with more attention the relations of Society, in the view of skreening themselves against it's oppression. Their humour it is true is commonly of the sareastic kind, but this character is sufficiently applicable to what passes in the World for wit. Besides it was not Nature which rendered them malignant, but the raillery, or the contempt, of those with whom they have lived

man