"could we possibly comprehend it; yet would it be "the highest absurdity to hope for it in all its parts, "because the beauty and happiness of the whole depend altogether on the just inferiority of its parts, that is, on the comparative imperfections "of the several beings of which it is composed.

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"It would have been no more an instance of "God's wisdom to have created no beings but of the highest and most perfect order, than it would be "of a painter's art to cover his whole piece with "one single colour the most beautiful he could compose. Had he confined himself to such, nothing "could have existed but demi-gods, or arch-angels, " and then all inferior orders must have been void " and uninhabited: but as it is surely more agree"able to infinite Benevolence, that all these should "be filled up with beings capable of enjoying hap

piness themselves, and contributing to that of "others, they must necessarily be filled with inferior

beings, that is, with such as are less perfect, but "from whose existence, notwithstanding that less "perfection, more felicity upon the whole accrues "to the universe, than if no such had been created. "It is moreover highly probable, that there is such "a connection between all ranks and orders by "subordinate degrees, that they mutually support "each other's existence, and every one in its place is absolutely necessary towards sustaining "the whole vast and magnificent fabrick.

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"Our pretences for complaint could be of this only, that we are not so high in the scale of ex"istence as our ignorant ambition may desire; a "pretence which must eternally subsist; because,

"were we ever so much higher, there would be still "room for infinite power to exalt us; and since no "link in the chain can be broke, the same reason "for disquiet must remain to those who succeed to "that chasm, which must be occasioned by our pre"ferment. A man can have no reason to repine "that he is not an angel; nor a horse that he is not a man; much less, that in their several stations. they possess not the faculties of another; for this "would be an insufferable misfortune."

This doctrine of the regular subordination of beings, the scale of existence, and the chain of na ture, I have often considered, but always left the enquiry in doubt and uncertainty.

That every being not infinite, compared with in. finity, must be imperfect, is evident to intuition; that whatever is imperfect must have a certain line which it cannot pass, is equally certain. But the reason which determined this limit, and for which such being was suffered to advance thus far and no farther, we shall never be able to discern. Our discoverers tell us, the Creator has made beings of all orders, and that therefore one of them must be such as man. But this system seems to be established on a concession, which, if it be refused, cannot be extorted.

Every reason which can be brought to prove, that there are beings of every possible sort, will prove that there is the greatest number possible of every sort of beings; but this with respect to man we know, if we know any thing, not to be true.

It does not appear even to the imagination, that

ceive any advantage from the imperfection of the second, or that indeed they may not equally exist, though the second had never been, or should cease to be, and why should that be concluded necessary, which cannot be proved even to be useful?

The scale of existence from infinity to nothing, cannot possibly have being. The highest being not infinite must be, as has been often observed, at an infinite distance below infinity. Cheyne, who, with the desire inherent in mathematicians to reduce every thing to mathematical images, considers all existence as a cone, allows that the basis is at an infinite distance from the body. And in this distance between finite and infinite, there will be room for ever for an infinite series of indefinable existence.

Between the lowest positive existence and nothing, wherever we suppose positive existence to cease, is another chasm infinitely deep; where there is room again for endless orders of subordinate nature, continued for ever and for ever, and yet in. finitely superior to non-existence.

To these meditations humanity is unequal. But yet we may ask, not of our Maker, but of each other, since on the one side creation, wherever it stops, must stop infinitely below infinity, and on the other infinitely above nothing, what necessity there is that it should proceed so far either way that beings so high or so low should ever have existed? We may ask; but I believe no created wisdom can give an adequate answer.

Nor is this all. In the scale, wherever it begins or ends, are infinite vacuities. At whatever distance we suppose the next order of beings to be above

man, there is room for an intermediate order of beings between them; and if for one order, then for infinite orders; since every thing that admits of more or less, and consequently all the parts of that which admits them, may be infinitely divided. So that, as far as we can judge, there may be room in the vacuity between any two steps of the scale, or between any two points of the cone of being, for infinite exertion of infinite power.

Thus it appears how little reason those who repose their reason upon the scale of being have to triumph over them who recur to any other expedient of solution, and what difficulties arise on every side to repress the rebellions of presumptuous decision. Qui pauca considerat, facile pronunciat. In our passage through the boundless ocean of disquisition we often take fogs for land, and after having long toiled to approach them, find, instead of repose and harbours, new storms of objection, and fluctuations of uncertainty.

We are next entertained with Pope's alleviations of those evils which we are doomed to suffer.

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The

Poverty, or the want of riches, is generally com"pensated by having more hopes, and fewer fears, by a greater share of health, and a more exqui"site relish of the smallest enjoyments, than those "who possess them are usually blessed with. "want of taste and genius, with all the pleasures "that arise from them, are commonly recompensed "by a more useful kind of common sense, together "with a wonderful delight, as well as success, in the busy pursuits of a scrambling world. The suffer

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trifling gratifications imperceptible to others, and "sometimes almost repaid by the inconceivable "transports occasioned by the return of health and "vigour. Folly cannot be very grievous, because imperceptible; and I doubt not but there is some “truth in that rant of a mad poet, that there is a "pleasure in being mad, which none but madmen "know. Ignorance, or the want of knowledge and "literature, the appointed lot of all born to poverty, "and the drudgeries of life, is the only opiate

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capable of infusing that insensibility which can "enable them to endure the miseries of the one and "the fatigues of the other. It is a cordial admi"nistered by the gracious hand of Providence; of "which they ought never to be deprived by an illjudged and improper education. It is the basis "of all subordination, the support of society, and "the privilege of individuals: and I have ever "thought it a most remarkable instance of the "divine wisdom, that whereas in all animals, whose "individuals rise little above the rest of their "species, knowledge is instinctive; in man, whose "individuals are so widely different, it is acquired "by education; by which means the prince and "the labourer, the philosopher and the peasant, "are in some measure fitted for their respective "situations."

Much of these positions is perhaps true, and the whole paragraph might well pass without censure, were not objections necessary to the establishment of knowledge. Poverty is very gently paraphrased by want of riches. In that sense almost every man may in his own opinion be poor. But there is