ead them to but a fmall Number of Objects, and Actions of but few kinds. They are confin'd to these, for they are not capable of making a different Choice, they have only these few Ideas and Senfations. The Cells, the Matter that compofes them, and the Manner of getting it, are present to a Bee, and it cannot imploy itself about any other Thing. But in Man, one Idea drives out another; hence Distractions of Thoughts, Levity, and Interruption in acting. Reason may supply these Defects, and fix him to his proper Duty; 'tis his Fault if he does not make this Ufe of it, and his Merit if he does.

HOWEVER, Inftinct is not always fo fure in Animals, as Mr Pope seems to infinuate. There are fome forts of Food, that are pleasant to them, which taken in too great Quantities cause their Death. There is a kind of Hay very nourishing and good for Horfes, but deftroys them if given too largely. Mr De Reaumur tells of a Butterfly, who made its last Meal on a little bit of Sugar, because it fucked it too greedily.

Now, in the Leibnitzian Syftem, nothing 03

is

is more fuperfluous than an Instinct in Beafts join'd to the Corporeal Machine, which is compofed in fuch a Make, and fo connected to all the Parts of the Universe, that nothing happens to it but what is inevitable, by virtue of this Conftruction, and of its infallible Relation to all the reft.

In ver. 154, &c. Mr Pope gives us a Poetical Defcription of the Golden Age. He had a Mind to out-do all the Poets, who had ever treated this Subject; he has fucceeded in it, and his Imagination has gone a great deal further than theirs. à

4

Man walk'd with Beaft joint Tenant of the Shade,

The fame his Table, and the fame his Bed;

In the fame Temple, the refounding Wood,
All Vocal Beings hymn'd their equal God.

Poetry must have great Charms to 'make fuch bold Fictions as thefe be tread with Pleasure. There are Perfons who take a Pride in being incredulous when they are told, that the Empire of Man, in his State of Innocence, extended to thofe Species of Animals, which are now so fierce

and

and untameable. And I much doubt whether Mr Pope's Verfes will have the Power to influence their Belief in this Respect: They find too much Pleasure in objecting.

ACCORDING to Mr Pope's Suppofition, the firft Worship was without Sacrifices; yet the most ancient of all Hiftories, as well as those which follow'd it, teach us the contrary. God, to keep up the Memory of the Fall, and what it deferved, in order to make way for a greater Admiration of his Mercy, a more lively Gratitude, and a more attentive Application to Obedience, thought fit that Men fhou'd in flain Animals offer him a Confeffion of what they deserved. But when JESUS CHRIST, by his perfect Submission to the Will of God, obtain'd a full Reconciliation for those who fhou'd adhere to him, the divine Worship was freed from thofe Traces of Reproach, and Characters of Indignation.

Mr Pope, always careful to prevent any Thing which may degenerate into Pride, and in order to bring Man upon a Level with that which he defpifes as a Brute, endeavours to make him understand that

his

his Reason receiv'd its firft Inftructions from their Instinct.

To copy Inftinet then was Reafon's Part, fays he. In order to make us the more docile in receiving this Paradox, he makes Nature itfelf fpeak in his Verfes And what is Nature according to him? It is the Body of the Supreme Being, the Univerfal Caufe. Man attentive to this Voice of Nature, obeys its Inftructions, and in endeavouring to copy them as he can invents all Arts. It was, however, a long Time fince the Building of Palaces, and the Ornaments of their Furniture, that Men have invented Glafs Hives in order to take a more exact Survey of the Skill of Bees. It is but a little while ago that they have been inftructed with that of Wafps, and that the Europeans have been acquainted with the Mechanics of Caftors. 'Tis but very lately that they have found out the Artifice of Infects to cloath, nourish, and transform themselves.

WERE not the Caverns interfpers'd in the Mountains, and the Trees of the Forefts, by the spreading of their Branches, more proper to furnish Men with the

No

Notions of Habitations, and the Means of fheltering themselves, than the Holes of the Ant, or the Spider's Web? Is it not ftrange that a little Fish, which few People are acquainted with, and of which many doubt the very Existence, shou'd have taughtMen the Art of conveying them felves on the Water, known however, and practifed by all Nations, and carried at length, by the fublime Calculations of Reafon, to a Degree, which we cannot help admiring, any more than the Perfection of Architecture, which fhews the Skill of Men the Scholars to be infinitely fuperior to that of the Beasts their Masters. MR Pope (verfe 234) takes it for granted that Man

I

To Virtue in the Paths of Pleafure trod.

grant him this Suppofition, there is nothing impoffible in it, and even now we may, and ought to do the fame, after we have purified the Expreffion of Pleasure. WHEN he adds

Love all the Faith, and all th' Allegiance then, I do not think that he expreffes himself accurately enough, and, perhaps, a too

fcru

Learn of the little Nautilus to fail. verfe 179.