If her apoftate heart fhould e'er incline H THE DESIG N. AVING proposed to write some pieces on Human Life and Manners, fuch as (to use my lord Bacon's expreffion) come home to Men's Business and Bofoms, I thought it more fatisfactory to begin with confidering Men in the abftract, his Nature and his State; fince, to prove any moral Duty, to enforce any moral precept, or to examine the perfection or imperfection of any creature whatsoever, it is neceffary firft to know what condition and relation it is placed in, and what is the proper end and purpose of its being. The fcience of Human Nature is, like all other fciences, reduced to a few clear points: There are not. many certain truths in this world. It is therefore in the Anatomy of the mind as in that of the Body; more good will accrue to mankind by attending to the large, open, and perceptible parts, than by studying too much fuch finer nerves and veffels, the conformations and ufes of which will for ever efcape our obfervation. The difputes are all upon these last, and, I will venture to say, they have less sharpened the wits than the hearts of men against each other, and have diminished the practice, more than advanced the theory, of Morality. If I could flatter myfelf that this Effay has any merit, it is in fteering betwixt the extremes of doctrines feemingly oppofite, in paffing over terms utterly unintelligible, and in forming a temperate yet not inconfiftent, and a bort yet not imperfect fyftem of Ethics. This I might have done in profe; but I chose verse, and even rhyme, for two reafons. The one will appear obvious; that principles, maxims, or precepts fo written, both ftrike the reader more ftrongly at first, VOL. III. C and are more easily retained by him afterwards: Theother may seem odd, but is true, I found I could exprefs them more fhortly this way than in profe itself; and nothing is more certain, than that much of the force as well as grace of arguments or inftructions, depends on their concifeness. I was unable to treat this part of my subject more in detail, without becoming dry and tedious; or more poetically, without facrificing perfpicuity to ornament, without wandring from the precifion, or breaking the chain of reafoning: If any man can unite all these without diminution of any of them, I freely confefs he will compass a thing above my capacity. What is now published, is only to be confidered as a general Map of MAN, marking out no more than the greater parts, their extent, their limits, and their 'connection, but leaving the particular to be more fully delineated in the charts which are to follow. Confequently, thefe Epiftles in their progrefs (if I have health and leisure to make any progrefs) will be lefs dry, and more fufceptible of poetical ornament. I am here only opening the fountains, and clearing the paffage. To deduce the rivers, to follow them in their course, and to observe their effects, may be a task more agreeable. 1 |