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5. Luxurious KNOWLEDGE includes abstract enquiries; as physics, metaphysics, many branches of experimental philosophy, heraldry, antiquities, and the dead languages.*

6. Man is an animal endowed with powers of communication, memory, association, imitation, reflection, and reasoning;--talents given him by his Maker; for the good use of which, he is accountable in a future state.

7. In his unimproved and uncivilized condi tion, man is naked, without habitation, without means of defence or offence, and possessed of no means of subsistence, besides the wild fruits and spontaneous produce of the earth.

8. To this day, many nations live naked in eaverns under ground, perform no labour, and depend for their subsistence on the spontaneous products of the earth, and on the flesh of animals, which they destroy by simple stratagems.

Observation.-Such, are many of the nations of Africa; the inhabitants of New Holland; of many of the South Sea Islands; the Greenlanders; the natives of Hudson's Bay; and some of the Siberian nations; of whom, very curious particulars will be found in books of voyages and travels, and in Goldsmith's popular system of Geography.+

9. Till the Romans invaded England, the Britons lived naked, chiefly under ground, painting their bodies of various colours, bestowing no cultivation on the soil, and depending for subsistence on acorns, berries, and roots,

* This division of knowledge is unavoidably imper fect; and is little respected in the details of this work. + The observations are not to be committed to memory; but to be read by the pupil to the tutor, or by the pupil alone.

and upon their skill and success in hunting and fishing.

Obs.-The people of England are indebted to the wild ambition of Julius Cæsar; for the introduction into these islands, of those arts of civilization, which had travelled from the Ganges into Persia, thence into Egypt, from Egypt to Greece, and from Greece into Italy: whence, by the lust of conquest, they were spread over Europe. In like manner, at this day, the English are the instruments, from the same causes, of reflecting back the arts of civilization, amended by a true religion, to the banks of the Ganges; and of disseminating the same blessings, to the Africans; the Americans; and the insu lated people of the South Sea Islands.

10. The Romans introduced among the Bri tons, all the arts and knowledge which they had themselves received from the Greeks; and laid the foundation of that social state, in which we find ourselves in England, after the lapse of nearly two thousand years.

Obs. To take a view of knowledge, as it has extended itself from the most barbarous and uncultivated ages, down to this age of literature, science, and philosophy; and to render the whole, plain and familiar to young minds, and to the meanest capacities, are the objects of the present work.

II. Of the Simple Arts of Savage Life.

11. The arts of savage life were those which were possessed by the ancient Britons; and which are witnessed at this day, among all barbarous people. They include the arts of swimming, hunting, taking aim with missile weapons, and procuring fire.

12. The art of swimming, depends first, in keeping the arms and hands under the water; in

protruding only the face and part of the head out of the water; and then using such action, as will direct the body in any particular course.

Obs.-All animals swim without instruction; because they are unable to lift their fore-legs over their heads, The secret of this art depends, then, on keeping down the hands and arms, and acting under the water with them. The parts of any body which rise out of the water, sink the parts that are immersed within it.

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13. Hunting is performed by most savage nations on foot, and their only weapons are clubs. The swiftest of foot, and the strongest, usually become, therefore, Chiefs among such people.

Obs.-Hence, Hercules, the hero of antiquity, is drawn with no other weapon than a club; with which, alone, he is said to have performed all his wonderful exploits. Some nations, nothing removed above savages, are, however, found to have acquired the use of bows and arrows.

14. In taking aim with missile weapons, the precision which savage nations have attained, is wonderful. In throwing a stone, they seldom miss the smallest mark; they transfix fish in the water; knock down birds on the wing; and strike every enemy with unerring exactness.

Obs. Every one is acquainted with the success of the shepherd David, in killing Goliah. Even such is the precision of the South Sea islanders at the present day.

15. The greatest attainment of savage life, is the procuring of artificial fire; but this was an art not known to all barbarous people. The inhabitants of the Ladrones considered fire as an invisible monster, when the Spaniards first introduced it among them.

16. The Persians, and other eastern nations, after they had once acquired, or discovered fire,

made its preservation a religious duty; and fire was continued in their temples, without being once extinguished, for many hundred years. Hence, they became, or were considered, fire. worshippers.

17. Among savages, the usual mode of producing fire, is, by the rapid friction of two pieces of wood till they produce flames. Having no metals, they do not possess the simple method of communicating a spark to tinder, by the violent collision of flint and steel.

18. The cloathing of savage nations has refe rence solely to the inclemency of the weather; and consists generally of the skins of animals, or of the natural products of vegetables, without preparation or the intervention of art.

19. A precarious mode of subsistence is so unfavourable to the human species; that it is found, that savage tribes, in a series of ages, do not increase their numbers; and that they often become altogether extinct.

20. In the back settlements of North Ame. rica, the souls in the various half-starved savage tribes, do not exceed twenty thousand; while, on an equal space of country in China, two or three hundred millions, aided by the arts of civilization, are much better fed and provided for.

21. The wretched Indians who reside in the districts that surround Hudson's Bay, often pass a week together without food; and fre quently die of want, during the chase of an animal, which they have pursued on foot for many days together.

Obs. Hence, the origin of hospitality and social meetings kept up in civilized life, for purposes of pleasure; but originating in ages, when to divide with friends and neighbours the produce of the chase, was the first and the kindest of duties.

22. If there are some privations to be borne in society; if the successful emulation of industry and talents, creates great inequalities of enjoyment; and if the laws are abused, and sometimes bear oppressively on weak indivi. duals, the worst condition of social and civilized man, is better than the best condition of the untutored savage.

Obs. Such is man, in his native and original state, ia all countries; and such, are the boundaries of knowledge, among all aboriginal people: let us now consider him, in a better, happier, and more respectable condition.

III. Of Farming, or Agriculture.

23. The first step, from savage towards civi lized life, is the acquirement, protection, and recognition of property. In early ages this consisted only, of what was essential to the im. mediate wants of man.

24. The first property consisted of sheep, goats, and oxen; and the first husbandmen were shepherds, who tended their flacks, and drove them without restriction from pasture to pasture.

Obs. We have a beautiful picture of the pastoral life in the book of Genesis: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their families, were shepherds or husbandmen of the earliest ages. It willbe seen, that their wealth consisted in their flocks and live stock; and that they roamed over the country to find pasture wheresoever they list.

25. In the pastoral ages of husbandry, there

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