after this we look into the feveral inward perfections of cunning and fagacity, or what we generally call inftinct, we find them rifing after the fame manner imperceptibly one above another, and receiving additional improvements, according to the fpecies in which they are implanted. This progrefs in nature is fo very gradual, that the most perfect of an inferior fpecies comes very near to the most imperfect of that which is immediately above it.

The exuberant and overflowing goodness of the Supreme Being, whose mercy extends to all his works, is plainly feen, as I have before hinted, from his having made fo very little matter, at least what falls within our knowledge, that does not fwarm with life: nor is his goodness lefs feen in the diverfity, than in the multitude of living creatures. Had he only made one fpecies of animals, none of the reft would have enjoyed the happiness of existence; he has, therefore, Specified in his creation every degree of life, every capacity of being. The whole chafm of nature, from a plant to a man, is filled up with divers kinds of creatures, rifing one over another, by fuch a gentle and eafy afcent, that the little transitions and deviations from one fpecies to another are almost infenfible. This intermediate space is fo well husbanded and managed, that there is scarce a degree of perception which does not appear in fome one part of the world of life. Is the goodness, or wifdom of the Divine Being, more manifefted in this his proceeding?

There is a confequence, befides thofe I have already mentioned, which feems very naturally deducible from the foregoing confiderations. If the fcale of being rifes by fuch a regular progrefs, fo high as man, we may by a parity of reafon fuppofe that it ftill proceeds gradually through thofe beings which are of a fuperior nature to him; fince there is an infinitely greater space and room for different degrees of perfection between the Supreme Being and man, than between man and the most defpicable infect. The confequence of fo great a variety of beings which are fuperio

fuperior to us, from that variety which is inferior to us, is made by Mr. Locke, in a paffage which I shall here fet down, after having premifed, that notwithftanding there is fuch infinite room between man and his Maker for the creative power to exert itself in, it is impoffible that it should ever be filled up, fince there will be still an infinite gap or diftance between the highest created being, and the power which produced him.

That there should be more fpecies of intelligent creatures above us, than there are of fenfible and material below us, is probable to me from hence; that in all the vifible corporeal world, ave fee no chafms, or no gaps. All quite down from us, the defcent is by easy steps, and a continued series of things, that in each remove differ very little one from the other. There are fishes that have wings, and are not firangers to the airy region: and there are fome birds, that are inhabitants of the water; whofe blood is cold as fishes, and their flesh jo like in tafte, that the fcrupulous are allowed them on fish days. There are animals fo near of kin both to birds and beafts, that they are in the middie between both: amphibious animals link the terreftrial and aquatic together: feals live at land and at fea, and porpoifes have the warm blood and entrails of a bog; not to mention what is confidently reported of mermaids or fea men. There are fome brutes, that feem to have as much knowledge and reafon, as fome that are called men; and the animal and vegetable kingdoms are so nearly joined, that if you will take the loweft of one, and the highest of the other, there will fearce be perceived any great difference between them and fo on 'till we come to the lowest and the moftinorganical parts of matter, we shall find every where that the feveral fpecies are linked together, and differ but in almoft infenfible degrees. And when we confider the infinite power and wisdom of the Maker, we have reafon to think that it is fuitable to the magnificent harmony of the univerfe, and the great defign and infinite goodness of the architect, that the fpecies of creatures should also, by gentle degrees, afcend upward from us toward his infinite perfection

perfection, as we fee they gradually defcend from us downward: which if it be probable, we have reafon then to be perfuaded, that there are far more fpecies of creatures above us, than there are beneath; we being in degrees of perfection much more remote from the infinite Being of God, than we are from the lowest state of being, and that which approaches nearest to nothing. And yet of all thofe diftinct fpecies, we have no clear diftinct ideas.

In this fyftem of being, there is no creature fo wonderful in its nature, and which fo much deferves our particular attention, as man, who fills up the middle fpace between the animal and intellectual nature, the vifible and invisible world, and is that link in the chain of beings which has been often termed the Nexus utriufque mundi. So that he who in one respect is affociated with angels and archangels, may look upon a Being of infinite perfection as his father, and the highest order of fpirits as his brethren; may in another refpect fay to corruption, thou art my father, and to the worm, thou art my mother and my fifter.

1

I

Providence proved from Animal instinct.
[Spect. No. 120.}

Muft confefs I am infinitely delighted with those fpeculations of nature which are to be made in a country-life; and as my reading has very much lain among books of natural hiftory, I cannot forbear recollecting, upon this occafion, the feveral remarks which I have met with in authors, and comparing them with what falls under my obfervation; the arguments for providence drawn from the natural history of animals being, in my opinion, demonstrative.

The make of every kind of animal is different from that of every other kind; and yet there is not the least turn in the muscles or twist in the fibres of any one, which does not render them more proper for that parC

ticular

ticular animal's way of life than any other caft or texture of them would have been.

The most violent appetites in all creatures are luft and hunger the firft is a perpetual call upon them to propagate their kind; the latter to preferve themselves.

It is aftonishing to confider the different degrees of care that defcend from the parent to the young, so far as is abfolutely neceffary for the leaving a pofterity. Some creatures caft their eggs as chance directs them, and think of them no farther, as infects and several kinds of fish; others, of a nicer frame, find out proper beds to depofit them in, and there leave them; as the ferpent, the crocodile, and oftrich others hatch their eggs and tend the birth, 'till it is able to fhift for itfelf.

What can we call the principle which directs every different kind of bird to obferve a particular plan in the structure of its neft, and directs all of the fame fpecies to work after the fame model? It cannot be imitation; for though you hatch a crow under a hen, and never let it fee any of the works of its own kind, the neft it makes fhall be the fame, to the laying of a ftick, with all the other nefts of the fame fpecies. It cannot be reafon; for were animals indued with it to as great a degree as man, their buildings would be as different as ours, according to the different conveniencies that they would propofe to themselves.

Is it not remarkable, that the fame temper of weather, which raises this general warmth in animals, fhould cover the trees with leaves, and the fields with grafs, for their fecurity and concealment, and produce fuch infinite fwarms of infects for the fupport and fuftenance of their respective broods?

Is it not wonderful, that the love of the parent should be fo violent while it lafts, and that it should laft no longer than is neceffary for the prefervation of the young?

The violence of this natural love is exemplified by a very barbarous experiment; which I fhall quote at length, as I find it in an excellent author, and hope

my

my readers will pardon the mentioning fuch an inftance of cruelty, because there is nothing can so effectually fhew the ftrength of that principle in animals of which I am here fpeaking. "A perfon, who was "well skilled in diffections, opened a bitch, and as "the lay, in the most exquifite tortures, offered her one of her young puppies, which the immediately "fell a licking; and for the time feemed infenfible "of her own pain: on the removal, fhe kept her eye "fixed on it, and began a wailing fort of a cry, "which seemed rather to proceed from the lofs of her "young one, than the fenfe of her own torments."

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But notwithstanding this natural love in brutes is much more violent and intense than in: rational creatures, providence has taken care that it fhould be no longer troublefome to the parent than it is useful to the young; for fo foon as the wants of the latter cease, the mother withdraws her fondnefs, and leaves them to provide for themselves: and what is a very remarkable circumstance in this part of inftinct, we find that the love of the parent may be lengthened out beyond its ufual time, if the prefervation of the fpecies requires it; as we may fee in birds that drive away their young, as foon as they are able to get their livelihood, but continue to feed them if they are tied to the neft, or confined within a cage, or by any other means appear to be out of a condition of supplying their own neceffities.

This natural love is not obferved in animals to afcend from the young to the parent, which is not at all neceffary for the continuance of the fpecies: nor indeed in reasonable creatures does it rife in any proportion, as it fpreads itself downwards; for in all family affection, we find protection granted, and favours beftowed, are greater motives to love and tenderness, than fafety, benefits, or life received.

One would wonder to hear fceptical men difputing for the reason of animals, and telling us it is only our pride and prejudices that will not allow them the ufe of that faculty.

Reafon