few steps, and bolted at his legs with all its force; it then began to paw again, bellowed, ftept back, and bolt ed as before: but knowing its intention, and ftepping afide, it miffed me, fell, and was fo very weak, that it could not rife, though it made fevetal efforts. But it had done enough, the whole herd were alarmed, and coming to its refcue, obliged me to retire; for the dams will allow no perfon to touch their calves, without attacking them with impetuous ferocity. When any one happens to be wounded, or grown weak and feeble through age or fickness, the rest of the herd fet upon it, and gore it to death. OF THE SENTIMENTS OF THE SOUL *. Of Mental Affections. SHALL fpeak of mental affections, chiefly in the view of diftinguish ing them from the fentiments of the foul: they differ effentially from each For example, the pleasure which comedy bestows is widely different from that of which tragedy is other. the fource. The emotion which excites our laughter is an affection of the mind, or of human reafon; that which diffolves us into tears, is a fentiment of the foul. Not that I would make of the mind, and of the foul, two powers of a different nature; but it feems to me, as has been already faid, that the one is to the other, what fight is to the body; mind is a faculty, and foul is the principle of it; the foul is, if I may venture thus to exprefs myself, the body of our intelligence. I confider the mind, then, as an intellectual eye, to which may be re. ferred the other faculties of the understanding, as the imagination, which apprehends things future; memory, which contemples things that are paft; and judgement, which difcerns their correspondencies. The impref fion made upon us by thefe different acts of vifion, fometimes excites in us a fentiment which is denominated evidence; and in that cafe, this laft perception belongs immediately to the foul; of this we are made fenfible by the delicious emotion which it fuddenly excites in us; but, raised to that, it is no longer in the province of mind; becaufe, when we begin to feel, we ceafe to reafon; it is no longer vifion, it is enjoyment. As our education and our manners direct us toward our personal intereft, hence it comes to pafs, that the mind employs itself only about focial conformities, and that reafon, after all, is nothing more than the intereft of our paffions; but the soul, left to itfelf, is inceffantly pursuing the conformities of nature, and our fentiment is always the interest of mankind. Thus, I repeat it, mind is the perception of the laws of fociety, and fentiment is the perception of the laws of nature. Thofe who display to us the conformities of fociety, fuch as comic writers, fatyrifts, epigrammatifts, and even the greatest part of Q 3 moralifts, * Selected from Dr Hunter's Tranflation of M. de St Pierre's Etudes de la Nature (Studies of Nature) in 5 vols. 8vo. Of the Excellence of this Work we fhall fpeak in the Words of the judicious Tranflator: "What work of Science difplays a more fublime Theology, inculcates a purer Morality, or difplays a more ardent and more expanfive Philanthropy? St Pierre has enabled me to contemplate the Univerfe with other Eyes; has furnished me with new Arguments to combat Atheifm; has eftablished, beyond the Power of Contradiction, the Doctrine of a Univerfa Providence; has excited a warmer Intereft in Favour of fuffering Humanity, and has difclosed Sources, unknown before, oi, moral and intellectual enjoy, ment moralifts, are men of wit: fuch were the Abbé de Choify, La Bruyere, St Evremont, and the like. Thofe who discover to us the conformities of nature, fuch as tragic, and other poets of fenfibility, the inventors of arts, great philofophers, are men of genius: fuch were Shakspeare, Corneille, Racine, Newton, Marcus Aurelius, Montefquieu, La Fontaine, Fenelon, J. J. Rouffeau. The first clafs belong to one age, to one feafon, to one nation, to one junto; the others to pofterity and to mankind. We shall be still more fenfible of the difference which fubfifts between mind and foul, by tracing their af. fections in oppofite progreffes. As often, for example, as the perceptions of the mind are carried up to evidence, they are exalted into a fource of exquifite pleasure, independently of every particular relation of intereft; becaufe, as has been faid, they awaken a feeling within us. But when we go about to analyze our feelings, and refer them to the examination of the mind, or reafoning power, the fublime emotions which they excited in us vanifh a way; for in this cafe, we do not fail to refer them to fome accommodation of fociety, of fortune, of fyftem, or of fome other perfonal intereft, whereof our reafon is compofed. Thus, in the first cafe, we change our copper into gold; and in the fecond, our gold into copper. it will refer the formation of them to the labour of a glass-house; and if it admits the exiftence of a creating power, it will reprefent him as a mechanic out of employment, amufing himself with making globes, merely to have the pleasure of feeing them turn round. It will conclude, from its own diforder, that there is no fuch thing as order in nature; from its own immortality, that there is no mortality. As it refers every thing to its own reason, and feeing no reafon for existence, when it fhall be no longer on the earth, it thence concludes, that, in fact, it shall not in that cafe exist. To be confiftent, it ought equally to conclude, on the fame principle, that it does not exift now; for it certainly can difcover, neither in itself, nor in any thing around, an actual reason for its existence, We are convinced of our existence by a power greatly fuperior to our mind, which is fentiment, or intellectual feeling. We are going to carry this natural inftinct along with us into our refearches refpecting the exiftence of the Deity, and the immortality of the foul; fubjects, on which our versatile reafon has so frequently engaged, fometimes on this, fometimes on the other fide of the queftion. Though our infufficiency be too great to admit of launching far into this unbounded career, we prefume to hope, that our perceptions, nay, our very mistakes, may encourage men of genius to enter upon it. Thefe fublime and eternal truths feem to us fo deeply imprinted on the human heart, as to appear themselves the principles of our intellectual feeling, and to manifeft themfelves in our most ordinary affections, as in the wildeft exceffes of our paffions. Again, nothing can be lefs adapted, at the long-run, to the fludy of nature, than the reafoning powers of man; for though they may catch here and there fome natural conformities, they never purfue the chain to any great length; befides, there is a much greater number which the mind does not perceive, because it always brings back every thing to itfelf, and to the little focial or fcientific order within which it is circumfcribed. Thus, for example, if it takes a glimpse of the celeftial fpheres, us toward the Deity, and prompts Of the Sentiment of Innocence. The fentiment of innocence exalts us " us to virtuous deeds, The Greeks and Romans employed little children to fing in their religious feftivals, and to prefent their offerings at the altar, in the view of rendering the gods propitious to their country, by the fpectacle of infant innocence. The fight of infancy calls men back to the fentiments of nature. When Cato of Utica had formed the refolution to put himfelf to death, his friends and fervants concealed his fword; and upon his demanding it, with expreffions of violent indignation, they delivered it to him by the hand of a child: but the corruption of the age in which he lived, had ftifled in his heart the fentiment which innocence ought to have excited. Jefus Chrift recommends to us to become as little children: we call them innocents, non nocentes, because they have never injured any one, But, notwithstanding the claims of their tender age, and the authority of the Christian religion, to what barbarous education are they not _abandoned? of Pity, The fentiment of innocence is the native fource of compaffion: hence we are more deeply affected by the fufferings of a child, than by thofe of an old man. The reafon is not, as certain philofophers pretend, because the refources and hopes of the child are inferior; for they are, in truth, greater than thofe of the old man, who is frequently infirm, and haftening to diffolution; whereas the child is enter ing into life, but the child has never offended; he is innocent. This fentiment extends even to animals, which, in many cafes, excite our fympathy more than rational creatures do, from this very confideration, that they are harmlefs. -The fentiment of innocence developes, in the heart of man, a divine character, which is that of generofity. It bears, not on the calamity abstractedly confidered, but on a moral quali ty, which it difcerns in the unfortunate being who is the object of it. It derives increase from the view of innocence, and fometimes ftill more from that of repentance. Man alone, of all animals, is fufceptible of pity; and this, not by a fecret retrofpect to himself, as fome enemies of the human race have pretended: for, were that the cafe, on ftating a comparison between a child and an old man, both of them unfortunate, we ought to be more affected by the mifery of the old man, confidering that we are removing from the wretchednefs of childhood, and drawing nearer to thofe of old age: the contrary, however, takes place, in virtue of the moral fentiment which I have alleged. When an old man is virtuous, the moral fentiment of his distress is excited in us with redoubled force; this is an evident proof, that pity in man. is by no means an animal affection. The fight of a Belifarius is, accordingly, a most affecting object. If you heighten it by the introduction of a child holding out his little hand to receive the alms beftowed on that illuftrious blind beggar, the impreffion of pity is ftill more powerful, But let me put a fentimental cafe: Suppofe you had fallen in with Belifarius foliciting charity, on the one hand, and on the other, an orphan child, blind and wretched, and that you had but one crown, without the poffibility of dividing it,to which of the two would you have given it? If on reflection you find, that the eminent fervices rendered by Belifarius to his ungrateful country, have inclined the balance of fentiment too decidly in his favour, fuppofe the child overwhelmed with the woes of Belifarius, and at the fame time poffeffing fome of his virtues, fuch as having his eyes put out by his parents, and, nevertheless, continuing to beg alms alms for their relief *; there would, in my opinion, be no room for hefitation, provided a man felt only; for if you reason, the cafe is entirely altered; the talents, the victories, the renown of the Grecian general, would presently absorb the calamities of an obfcure child. Reafon will recal you to the political intereft, to the I hu man. The fentiment of innocence is a ray of the divinity. It invests the unfortunate person with a celestial radiance, which falls on the human heart, and recoils, kindling it into generofity, that other flame of divine original. It alone renders us fenfible to the diftress of virtue, by representing it to us as incapable of doing harm; for otherwife, we might be induced to confider it as fufficient to itfelf. In this cafe, it would excite rather admiration than pity. Of the Love of Country. This fentiment is, ftill farther, the fource of love of country, because it brings to our recollection the gentle and pure affections of our earlier years. It increases with extenfion, and ex. pands with the progrefs of time, as a fentiment of a celeftial and immortal nature. They have, in Swifferland, an ancient mufical air, and extremely 1 fimple, called the rans des vaches.This air produces an effect fo powerful, that it was found neceffary to prohibit the playing of it, in Holland and in France, before the Swifs foldiers, because it fet them all a-deferting one after another. I imagine, that the rans des vaches muft imitate the lowing and bleating of the cattle, the repercuffion of the echos, and other local affociations, which made the blood boil in the veins of those poor soldiers, by recalling to their memory the valleys, the lakes, the mountains of their country †, and at the fame time, the companions of their early life, their first love, the recollection of their in dulgent grandfathers, and the like. The love of country seems to ftrengthen in proportion as it is innocent and unhappy. For this reason favages are fonder of their country than polished nations are; and those who inhabit regions rough and wild, fuch as mountaineers, than thofe who live in fertile countries and fine climates. Never could the court of Ruffia prevail upon a fingle Samoiède to leave the fhores of the Frozen Ocean, and fettle at Petersburg. Some Greenlanders were brought, in the courfe of the last century, to the court of Copenhagen, where they were entertained with a profufion of kindness, but *The rector of a country village in the vicinity of Paris, not far from Draver, underwent, in his infancy, a piece of inhumanity not lefs barbarous, from the hands of his parents. He fuffered caftration from his own father, who was by profeffion a furgeon; he, nevertheless, fupported that unnatural parent in his old age. I be Lieve both father and fon are ftill in life. † I have been told that Poutaveri, the Indian of Taiti, who was fome years ago. brought to Paris, on feeing, in the royal garden, the paper mulberry tree, the bark of which is, in that island, manufactured into cloth, the tear ftarted to his eye, and clasping it in his arms, be exclaimed; 'Ah! tree of my country!' I could wish it were put to trial, whether, on prefenting to a foreign bird, fay a paroquet, a fruit of its country, which it had not seen for a confiderable time, it would express fome extraordinary emotion. Though phyfical fenfations attach us ftrongly to country, moral fentiments alone can give them a vehement intenfity. Time, which blunts the former, gives only a keener edge to the latter. For this reafon it is, that veneration for a monument is always in proportion to its antiquity, or to its diftance; this explains that expreffion of Tacitus : Major e longinquo reverentia : diftance increases reverence. but foon fretted themselves to death. Several of them were drowned, in attempting to return to their country in an open boat. They beheld all the magnificence of the court of Denmark with extreme indifference; but there was one, in particular, whom they obferved to weep every time he saw a woman with a child in her arms; hence they conjectured that this unfortunate man was a father. The gentleness of domeftic education, undoubtedly thus powerfully attaches thefe poor people to the place of their birth. It was this which infpired the Greeks and Romans with fo much courage in the defence of their country. The fentiment of innocence ftrengthens the love of it, becaufe it brings back all the affections of early life, pure, facred, and incorruptible. Virgil was well acquainted with the effect of this fentiment, when he puts into the mouth of Nifus, who was diffuading Euryalus from undertaking a nocturnal expedition, fraught with danger, thofe affecting words: Te fupereffe velim: tua vita dignior ætas. If thou furvive me, I fhall die content: Thy tender age deferves the longer life. But among nations with whom infancy is rendered miferable, and is corrupted by irksome, ferocious, and unnatural education, there is no more love of country than there is of innocence. This is one of the caufes which fends fo many Europeans a rambling over the world, and which accounts for our having fo few modern monuments in Europe, because the next generation never fails to deftroy the monuments of that which precedes it. This is the reafon that our books, our fashions, our customs, our ceremonies, and our languages, becomes obfolete fo foon, and are entirely different this age from what they were in the laft; whereas all thefe particulars continue the fame a mong the fedentary nations of Afia, for a long feries of ages together; becaufe children brought up in Afia, in the habitation of their parents, and treated with much gentleness, remain attached to the establishments of their ancestors, cut of gratitude to their memory, and to the places of their birth, from the recollection of their happiness and innocence. Of the Sentiment of Admiration. The fentiment of admiration tranfports us immediately into the befom of Deity. If it is excited in us by an object which infpires delight, we convey ourfelves thither as to the fource of joy; if terror is roufed, we flie thither for refuge. In either cafe, admiration exclaims in thefe words, "Ah, my God!" This is, we are told, the effect of education merely, in the courfe of which, frequent mention is made of the name of God; but mention is ftill more frequently made of our father, of the king, of a protetor, of a celebrated literary character. How comes it, then, that when we feel ourselves ftanding in'need of fupport in fuch unexpected concuffions, we never exclaim, Ab, my King!" or, if fcience were concerned," Ah, Newton!" It is certain, that if the name of God be frequently mentioned to us, in the progrefs of our education, the idea of it is quickly effaced in the ufual train of the affairs of this world; why then have we recourfe to it in extraordinary emergencies? This fentiment of nature is common to all nations, many of whom give no theological inftruction to their children. I have remarked it in the negroes of the coaft of Guinea, of Madagascar, of Caffraria, and Mcfambique, among the Tartars, and the Indians of the Malabar coaft; in a word, among men of every quarter of the world. I never faw a fingle one, who, under the extraordinary motions of furprize, or of admiration, did not make, in his own language, the fame exclamation which we do, and who did no |