thrown upon any of the unknown Coats 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 nothing like the ufe of Reason, we find in them all the lower Parts of our Nature, the Paffions and Senfes in their greatest Strength and Perfection. And here it is worth our Obfervation, that all Beasts 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 Safety lies chiefly in their Flight, are fufpicious, fearful and apprehenfive of every thing they fee or hear; whilst others that are of Affiftance and Ufe to Man, have their Natures fofthed with fomething mild and tractable, and by that means are qualified for a Domeftick 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 defencelefs an Animal as a Lamb, nor the Meeknefs of a Lamb in a Creature fo armed for Battel and Affault as the Lion. In the fame manner, we find that particular Animals have a more or less exquifite Sharpnefs and Sagacity in those particular Senfes which moft turn to their Advantage, and in which their Safety and Welfare is the most 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 Sting, a Trunk, or a Probofcis. It is likewife obferved by Naturalifts, that it muft be fome hidden Principle, diftinct from what we call Reafon, which inftru&ts Animals in the Ufe of these their Arms, and teaches them to manage them to the best Advantage; because they naturally defend themfelves with that part in which their Strength lies, before the Weapon be formed in it; as is remarkable in Lambs, which tho' they are bred within Doors, and never faw the Actions of their own Species, pufh at thofe who approach them with

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their Foreheads, before the firft budding of a Horn ap

pears.

I fhall add to thefe general Obfervations, an Inftance which Mr. Locke has given us of Providence, even in the Imperfections of a Creature which feems the meanest and most despicable in the whole animal World. We may, fays he, from the Make of an Oyfter, or Cockle, conclude, that it has not fo many nor fo quick Senfes as a Man, or feveral other Animals: Nor if it had would it in that State and Incapacity of transferring it self from one Place to another, be better'd by them. What good would Sight and Hearing do to a Creature, that cannot move it self to, or from the Object, wherein at a diftance ir perceives Good or Evil? And would not Quickness of Senfation 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. Moor, who cites it from Cardan, in relation to another Animal which Providence has left Defective, but at the fame time has fhewn its 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 fhe? 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 feen, Nature has fo obfcurely fitted her with Eyes, that Naturalifts can scarce agree whether fhe have any Sight at all or no. But for amends, what is fhe capable of for her Defence and Warning of Danger, fhehas very eminently conferred upon her; for fhe is exceeding quick of Hearing. And then her fhort Tail and fhort Legs, but broad Fore-feet armed with sharp Claws, we fee by the Event to what Purpose they are, fhe fo fwiftly working herfelfunder 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 she need dig no more than will serve the meer Thickness of her Body; and her Fore-feet are broad that she may fcoup away much Earth at a Time; and little or no Tail fhe has, because fhe courfes it not on the Ground, Like the Rat or Moufe, of whofe Kindred fhe is, but lives under the Earth, and is fain to dig her self a Dwelling there.

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And

And fhe making her way thro' fo thick an Element, which 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 She had compleated 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 it is commonly thought,) fhe has not Sight enough to diftinguifh 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 she comes up into broad Day fhe might be in Danger of being taken, unless she were thus affected by a Light ftriking upon her Eye, and immediately warning her to bury her felf in her proper Element. More Sight would be useless 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 it felf even in the Blemishes of thefe Creatures, how much more does it discover it felf 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 wifh our Royal Society would compile a body of Natural History, the best that could be gathered together from Books and Obfervations. If the feveral Writers among them took each his particular Species, and gave us a diftinct Account of its Original, Birth, and Education; its Policies, Hoftilities and Alliances, with the Frame and Texture of its inward and outward Parts, and particularly thofe that diftinguish it from all other Animals, with their peculiar Aptitudes for the State of Being in which Providence has placed them, it would be one of the beft Services their Studies could do Mankind, and not a little redound to the Glory of the All-wife Contriver.

It is true, fuch a Natural History, after all the Disquifitions of the Learned, would be infinitely Short and Defective. Seas and Defarts hide Millions of Animals from our Obfervation. Innumerable Artifices and Stratagems

are

are acted in the Howling Wilderness and in the Great Deep, that can never come to our Knowledge. Befides that there are infinitely more Species of Creatures which are not to be feen without, nor indeed with the help of the finest Glaffes, than of fuch as are bulky enough for the naked Eye to take hold of. However, from the Confideration of fuch Animals as lie within the Compafs of our Knowledge, we might easily form a Conclufion of the reft, that the fame Variety of Wisdom and Goodness runs through the whole Creation, and puts every Creature in a Condition to provide for its Safety and Subsistance in its proper Station.

TULLY has given us an admirable Sketch of Natural Hiftory, in his fecond Book concerning the Nature of the Gods; and that in a Style fo raised by Metaphors and Defcriptions, that it lifts the Subject above Raillery and Ridicule, which frequently fall on fuch nice Obfervations when they pafs through the Hands of an ordinary Writer. L

N° 122.

Friday, July 20.

Comes jucundus in via pro vehiculo eft.

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Publ. Syr. Frag.

Man's firft Care should be to avoid the Reproaches of his own Heart; his next, to escape the Cenfures of the World: If the laft interferes with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise there cannot be a greater Satisfaction to an honeft Mind, than to see thofe Approbations which it gives it felf feconded by the Applaufes of the Publick: 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 those who is not only at Peace within himself, but beloved and efteemed by all about him. He receives a fuitable Tribute for his univerfal Benevolence to Mankind, in the Returns of Affeation and Good-will, which are paid him by every one that lives within his Neighbourhood. I lately met with two or

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three

three odd Inftances of that general Refpect which is fhewn to the good old Knight. He would needs carry Will. Wimble and my felf 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 Side, is a Yeoman of about an hundred Pounds a Year, an honeft 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 those who have not fo good an Eftate 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 Fore-man of the Petty-Jury.

THE other that rides along with him is Tom Touchy, à Fellow famous for taking the Law of every Body. There is not one in the Town where he lives that he has not sued at a Quarter-Seffions. 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, till he was forced to fell the Ground it enclofed 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. 1 fuppofe he is going upon the old Bufinefs of the WillowTree.

AS Sir ROGER was giving me this Account of Tom Touchy, Will, Wimble and his two Companions ftopped mort till we came up to them. After having paid their Refpects to Sir RoGER, Will. told him that Mr. Touchy and he muft appeal to him upon a Difpute that arose between them. Will, it feems had been giving his Fellow Travellers an Account of his angling one Day in fuch a Hole; when Tom Touchy, instead of hearing out his Story, told him, that Mr. fuch an One, if he pleafed, 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 an