The Young Gentleman and Lady's Monitor, and English Teacher's Assistant Part 24

14. _That there should be more_ species _of intelligent creatures above us, than there are of sensible and material below us, is probable to me from hence; that in all the visible corporeal world, we see no chasms or no gaps. All quite down from us, the descent 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 strangers to the airy region; and there are some birds, that are inhabitants of the water, whose blood is as cold as fishes, and their flesh so like in taste, that the scrupulous, are allowed them on fish-days_.

15. _There are animals so near of kin both to birds and beasts, that they are in the middle between both; amphibious animals, link the terrestrial and aquatic together: seals live on land and at sea, and porpoises have the warm blood and entrails of a hog. Not to mention what is confidently reported of mermaids or sea-men, them are same brutes, that seem to have as much knowledge and reason, as some that are called men; and the animal and vegetable kingdoms are so nearly joined, that if you will take the lowest of one, and the highest of the other, there will scarce be perceived any great difference between them; and so on till we come to the lowest and the most most inorganical parts of matter, we shall find every where that the several_ species _are linked together, and differ but, in almost insensible degrees_.

16. _And when we consider the infinite power and wisdom of the Maker, we have reason to think that it is suitable to the magnificent harmony of the universe, that the great design and infinite goodness of the architect, that the_ species _of creatures should also, by gentle degrees, ascend upwards from us toward his infinite perfection as we see they gradually descend from us downward: which if it be probable, we have reason then to be persuaded; that there are far more_ species _of creatures above us than there are beneath; we being in degrees of perfection much more remote from the infinite Being of G.o.d, than we are from the lowest state of being, and that which approaches nearest to nothing. And yet of all those distinct species, we have no clear distinct ideas._

17. In this system of being, there is no creature so wonderful in its nature, and which so much deserves our particular attention, as man, who fills up the middle s.p.a.ce between the animal and intellectual nature, the visible and invisible world, and is that link in the chain of being, which has been often termed the _Nexus utriusque mundi_. So that he who in one respect is a.s.sociated with angels and archangels, may look upon a Being of infinite perfection as his father, and the highest order of spirits as his brethren; may in another respect say to _corruption, Thou art my father, and to the worm, thou art my mother and my sister_.

_Providence proved from Animal Instinct._

SPECTATOR, No. 120.

1. I must confess I am infinitely delighted with those speculations of nature which are to be made in a country-life; and as my reading has very much lain among books of natural history, I cannot forbear recollecting, upon this occasion, the several remarks which I have met with in authors, and comparing them with what falls under my own observation; the arguments for Providence drawn from the natural history of animals, being, in my opinion, demonstrative.

2. The make of every kind of animal is different from that of every other kind; and 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 particular animal's way of life, than any other cast or texture of them would have been.

The most violent appet.i.tes in all creatures are _l.u.s.t_ and _hunger_; the first is a perpetual call upon them to propagate their kind; the latter to preserve themselves.

3. It is astonishing to consider the different degrees of care that descend from the parent to the young, so far as is absolutely necessary for the leaving a posterity. Some creatures cast their eggs as chance directs them, and think of them no further, as insects, and several kinds of fish; others, of a nicer frame, find out proper beds to deposit them in, and there leave them, as the serpent, the crocodile, and ostrich; others hatch their eggs and tend the birth till it is able to shift for itself.

4. What can we call the principle which directs every different kind of bird to observe a particular plan in the structure of the nest, and directs all of the same species to work after the same model! It cannot be _imitation_; for though you hatch a crow under a hen, and never let it see any of the works of its own kind, the nest it makes shall be the same to the laying of a stick, with all the other nests of the same species. It cannot be _reason_; for were animals endued with it to as great a degree as man, their buildings would be as different as ours, according to the different conveniences that they would propose to themselves.

5. Is it not remarkable, that the same temper of weather, which raises this general warmth in animals, should cover the trees with leaves, and the fields with gra.s.s, for their security and concealment, and produce such infinite swarms of insects for the support and sustenance of their respective broods?

Is it not wonderful that the love of the parent should be so violent while it lasts, and that it should last no longer than is necessary for the preservation of the young?

6. With what caution does the hen provide herself a nest in places unfrequented, and free from noise and disturbances? When she has laid her eggs in such a manner that she can cover them, what care does she take in turning them frequently, that all parts may partake of the vital warmth? When she leaves them, to provide for her necessary sustenance, how punctually does she return before they have time to cool, and become incapable of producing an animal? In the summer, you see her giving herself greater freedoms, and quitting her care for above two hours together; but, in winter, when the rigour of the season would chill the principles of life, and destroy the young one, she grows more a.s.siduous in her attendance, and stays away but half the time.

7. When the birth approaches, with how much nicety and attention does she help the chick to break its prison? Not to take notice of her covering it from the injuries of the weather, providing it proper nourishment, and teaching it to help itself; nor to mention her forsaking the nest, if after the usual time of reckoning the young one does not make its appearance. A chymical operation could not be followed with greater art or diligence, than is seen in the hatching of a chick; though there are many more birds that show an infinitely greater sagacity in all the fore mentioned particulars.

8. But at the same time the hen, that has all this seeming ingenuity (which is indeed absolutely necessary for the propagation of the species) considered in other respects, is without the least glimmerings of thought or common sense. She mistakes a piece of chalk for an egg, and sits upon it in the same manner: she is insensible of any increase or diminution in the number of those she lays: she does not distinguish between her own and those off another species; and when the birth appears of ever so different a bird, will cherish it for her own. In all these circ.u.mstances, which do not carry an immediate regard to the subsistence of herself or her species, she is a very idiot.

9. There is not, in my opinion, any thing more mysterious in nature than this instinct in animals, which thus, rises above reason, and falls infinitely short of it. It cannot be accounted for by any properties of matter, and at the same time works after so odd a manner, that one cannot think it the faculty of an intellectual being. For my own part, I look upon it as upon the principle of gravitation in bodies, which is not to be explained by any known qualities inherent in the bodies themselves, nor from any laws in mechanism; but, according to the best notions of the greatest philosophers, is an immediate impression from the first mover, and the divine energy acting in the creature.

_Good-Breeding._

1. Complaisance renders a superior amiable, an equal agreeable, and an inferior acceptable. It smoothes distinction, sweetens conversation, and makes every one in the company pleased with himself. It produces good nature and mutual benevolence, encourages the timorous, soothes the turbulent; humanizes the fierce, and distinguishes a society of civilized persons from a confusion of savages. In a word, complaisance is a virtue that blends all orders of men together in a friendly intercourse of words and actions, and is suited to that equality in human nature which every one ought to consider, so far as is consistent with the order and economy of the world.

2. If we could look into the secret anguish and affliction of every man's heart, we should often find, that more of it arises from little imaginary distresses, such as checks, frowns, contradictions, expressions of contempt, and (what _Shakspeare_ reckons among other evils under the sun)

"--The poor man's contumely, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes,"

than from the more real pains and calamities of life. The only method to remove these imaginary distresses as much as possible out of human life, would be the universal practice of such an ingenious complaisance as I have been here describing, which, as it is a virtue, may be defined to be a "constant endeavour to please those whom we converse with, so far as we may do it innocently."

3. Good-breeding necessarily implies civility; but civility does not reciprocally imply good-breeding. The former has its intrinsic weight and value, which the latter always adorns, and often doubles by its workmanship.

To sacrifice one's own self-love to other people's, is a short, but, I believe, a true definition of civility: to do it with ease, propriety and grace, is good-breeding. The one is the result of good-nature; the other of good-sense, joined to experience, observation and attention.

4. A ploughman will be civil, if he is good-natured, but cannot be well bred. A courtier will be well bred though perhaps without good-nature, if he has but good sense. Flattery is the disgrace of good-breeding, as brutality often is of truth and sincerity. Good-breeding is the middle point between those two odious extremes.

Ceremony is the superst.i.tion of good-breeding, as well as of religion: but yet, being an out-work to both, should not be absolutely demolished.

It is always, to a certain degree, to be complied with, though despised by those who think, because admired and respected by those who do not.

5. The most perfect degree of good-breeding, as I have already hinted, is only to be acquired by great knowledge of the world, and keeping the best company. It is not the object of mere speculation, and cannot be exactly defined, as it consists in a fitness, a propriety of words, actions, and even looks, adapted to the infinite variety and combinations of persons, places, and things. It is a mode, not a substance; for what is good-breeding at St. _James's_, would pa.s.s for foppery or banter in a remote village; and the homespun civility of that village would be considered as brutality at court.

6. A cloistered pedant may form true notions of civility; but if amidst the cobwebs of his cell he pretends to spin a speculative system of good-breeding, he will not be less absurd than his predecessor, who judiciously undertook to instruct _Hannibal_, in the art of war. The most ridiculous and most aukward of men are, therefore, the speculatively well bred monks of all religions and all professions.

7. Good-breeding, like charity, not only covers a mult.i.tude of faults, but, to a certain degree, supplies the want of some virtues. In the common intercourse of life, it nets good-nature, and often does what good-nature will not always do; it keeps both wits and fools within those bounds of decency, which the former are too apt to transgress, and which the latter never know. Courts are unquestionably the seats of good-breeding and must necessarily be so; otherwise they would be the seats of violence and desolation. There all the pa.s.sions are in their highest state of fermentation.

8. All pursue what but few can obtain, and many seek what but one can enjoy. Good-breeding alone restrains their excesses. There, if enemies did not embrace they would stab. There, smiles are often put on to conceal tears. There, mutual services are professed, while mutual injuries are intended; and there, the guile of the serpent stimulates the gentleness of the dove: all this, it is true, at the expense of sincerity; but upon the whole, to the advantage of social intercourse in general.

9. I would not be misapprehended, and supposed to recommend good-breeding, thus prophaned and prost.i.tuted to the purposes of guilt and perfidy; but I think I may justly infer from it, to what a degree the accomplishment of good-breeding must adorn and enforce virtue and truth, when it can thus soften the outrages and deformity of vice and falsehood. I am sorry to be obliged to confess, that my native country is not perhaps the seat of the most perfect good-breeding, though I really believe, that it yields to none in hearty and sincere civility, as far as civility is (and to a certain degree it is) an inferior moral duty of doing as one would be done by.

10. If _France_ exceeds us in that particular, the incomparable author of _L'Esprit des Loix_ accounts for it very impartially, and I believe very truly. "If my countrymen," says he, "are the best bred people in the world, it is only because they are the vainest." It is certain that their good-breeding and attention, by flattering the vanity and self-love of others, repay their own with interest. It is a general commerce, usefully carried on by a barter of attentions, and often without one grain of solid merit, by way of medium, to make up the balance.

11. It were to be wished that good-breeding were in general thought a more essential part in the education of our youth, especially of distinction, than at present it seems to be. It might even be subst.i.tuted in the room of some academical studies, that take up a great deal of time to very little purpose; or, at least, it might usefully share some of those many hours, that are so frequently employed upon a coach-box, or in stables. Surely those, who by their rank and fortune are called to adorn courts, ought at least not to disgrace, them by their manners.

12. But I observe with concern, that it is the fashion for our youth of both s.e.xes to brand good-breeding with the name of ceremony and formality. As such they ridicule and explode it, and adopt in its stead, an offensive carelessness and inattention, to the diminution, I will venture to say, even of their own pleasures, if they know what true pleasures are. Love and friendship necessarily produce, and justly authorize familiarity; but then good-breeding must mark out its bounds, and say, thus far shalt thou go, and no farther; for I have known many a pa.s.sion and many a friendship, degraded, weakened, and at last (if I may use the expression) wholly flattened away, by an unguarded and illiberal familiarity.

13. Nor is good-breeding less the ornament and cement of common social life: it connects, it endears, and at the same time that it indulges the just liberty, restrains that indecent licentiousness of conversation, which alienates and provokes. Great talents make a man famous, great merit makes him respected, and great learning makes him esteemed; but good breeding alone can make him beloved.

14. I recommend it in a more particular manner to my countrywomen, as the greatest ornament to such of them as have beauty, and the safest refuge for those who have not. It facilitates the victories, decorates the triumphs, and secures the conquests of beauty; or in some degree atones for the want of it. It almost deifies a fine woman, and procures respect at least to those who have not charms enough to be admired. Upon the whole, though good-breeding cannot, strictly speaking, be called a virtue, yet it is productive of so many good effects, that, in my opinion, it may be justly reckoned more than a mere accomplishment.

WORLD, No. 143.

_Further Remarks, taken from Lord Chesterfield's Letters to his Son._

15. Good-Breeding has been very justly defined to be "the result of much good-sense, some good nature and a little self-denial for the sake of others, and with a view to obtain the same indulgence from them."

Good-breeding alone can prepossess people in our favour at first sight; more time being necessary to discover greater talents. Good-breeding, however, does not consist in low bows, and formal ceremony; but in an easy civil, and respectful behaviour.

16. Indeed, good-sense, in many cases, must determine good-breeding; for what would be civil at one time, and to one person, would be rude at another time, and to another person: there are, however, some general rules of good-breeding. As for example; to answer only yes, or no, to any person, without adding sir, my lord, or madam, (as it may happen) is always extremely rude; and it is equally so not to give proper attention and a civil answer, when spoken to: such behaviour convinces the person who is speaking to us, that we despise him, and do not think him worthy of our attention or answer.

17. A well-bred person will take care to answer with complaisance when he is spoken to; will place himself at the lower end of the table, unless bid to go higher; will first drink to the lady of the house, and then to the master; he will not eat aukwardly or dirtily, nor sit when others stand; and he will do all this with an air of complaisance, and not with a grave ill-natured look, as if he did it all unwillingly.

18. There is nothing more difficult to attain, or so necessary to possess, as perfect good-breeding; which is equally inconsistent with a stiff formality, an impertinent forwardness, and an aukward bashfulness.

A little ceremony is sometimes necessary; a certain degree of firmness is absolutely so; and an outward modesty is extremely becoming.

19. Virtue and learning, like gold, have their intrinsic value; but, if they are not polished, they certainly lose a great deal of their l.u.s.tre: and even polished bra.s.s will pa.s.s upon more people than rough gold. What a number of sins does the cheerful, easy, good-breeding of the _French_ frequently cover!