Among the various qualities which mankind possess, we select one or a few particulars on which to establish a theory, and in framing our account of what man was in some imaginary state of nature, we over∣look what he has always appeared within the reach of our own observation, and in the records of history. THE desire of laying the foundation of a fa∣vourite system, or a fond expectation, perhaps, that we may be able to penetrate the secrets of nature, to the very source of existence, have, on this subject, led to many fruitless inquiries, and given rise to many wild suppositions. Others have made the state of nature to consist in perpetual wars, kindled by competition for domi∣nion and interest, where every individual had a separate quarrel with his kind, and where the presence of a fellow-creature was the signal of battle. On either supposition, the first state of our nature must have borne no resemblance to what men have exhibited in any subsequent period historical monuments, even of the earliest date, are to be considered as novelties and the most common establishments of human society are to be classed among the incroachments which fraud, oppression, or a busy invention, have made upon the reign of nature, by which the chief of our grievances or blessings were equally with∣held.ĪMONG the writers who have attempted to distinguish, in the human character, its original qualities, and to point out the limits between nature and art, some have represented mankind in their first condition, as possessed of mere animal sensibility, without any exercise of the faculties that render them superior to the brutes, without any political union, without any means of explain∣ing their sentiments, and even without possessing any of the apprehensions and passions which the voice and the gesture are so well fitted to express. The poet, the historian, and the mo∣ralist, frequently allude to this ancient time and under the emblems of gold, or of iron, represent a condition, and a manner of life, from which mankind have either degenerated, or on which they have greatly improved.

Hence the supposed departure of mankind from the state of their na∣ture hence our conjectures and different opinions of what man must have been in the first age of his being. Not only the individual advances from infancy to manhood, but the species itself from rudeness to civilization. They acquire, This progress in the case of man is continued to a greater extent than in that of any other animal. The latter being de∣stined to act, extend their operations as their powers increase: they exhibit a progress in what they perform, as well as in the faculties Vegetables grow from a tender shoot, and animals from an infant state. NATURAL productions are generally formed by degrees. Of the question relating to the State of Nature.

X gon give it to ya chivalry