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DELICACY.

DIALOGUE I

HILOCLES is one of thofe few, who can be chearful and employed, without hav ing Recourfe to the Bufinefs or Diverfions of the World. He has a warm. Imagination tempered with an excellent Understanding, both which he has improved by a judicious Mixture of Reading and Converfation.

Though his Inclination has led him into Retirement; his Talents qualify him for making a Figure in the active Scenes of Life, Yet, at the fame Time, it must be confeffed, there is a certain natural Delicacy in the Frame of his Mind,, which would have rendered him lefs ferviceable.. in Business, than others of inferior. Abilities with out the fame Refinement of: 'Temper. He is ar rived to that Period of Life, when the Powers of the Mind are in their trueft Vigour: And having converfed at large long enough to give him a thorough Knowledge of Mankind, he has narrow

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ed his Friendships, as well as Acquaintance, defiring but few of either.

The Spot he has chofen for his Retirement is within a convenient Distance of the Town, yet not so near as to want any Advantages of the Country. He is a professed Admirer of what he calls Refined Simplicity, and difcovers that Chastity of Tafte, not only in his Judgment of the fine Arts, but in his Houfe, his Furniture, his Equipage; and in fhort, throughout the whole Conduct and OEconomy of his Life.

At a fmall Diftance from his Houfe ftands a Wood; which has fo many natural Beauties attending it, that with a very inconfiderable Expence, and by judiciously humouring the Genius of the Place, he has made it one of the most delightful Scenes imaginable. In the Center he has erected a little Temple, the Materials of which are cheap and common; yet they are chofen with fuch Judgment, and thrown together with fuch Art, that perhaps the moft coftly Ornaments could not have produced any thing more pleafing to a juft Eye. It is covered with Thatch, and paved with Pebbles; and the Pillars are nothing more than the Trunks of fome old Oaks, which grew upon the Spot. But the Plan is fo happily defigned, and fo neatly executed; and the several Parts are fo harmoniously proportioned to each other, as well as to the whole, that it forms one of the most agreeable Structures I ever beheld.

To this favourite Scene Philocles, retires, whenever he would enjoy himself or his Friend without Interruption. And here it was that Sophro

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nius found him in his Evening Meditations, having been informed at his houfe, that he was taking a Walk in the Wood..

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Sophronius and Philocles have long lived together in the ftricteft Intimacy, and most unreferved Communication of Sentiments. Sepbronius has a juft, rather than a lively Imagination. His Senfe is ftrong, but improved more by the Force of his own Reflexions, than by Books; for he has thought much more than he has read. Not that he is unacquainted with the capital, Authors, both Ancient and Modern; but it is his Maxim, that "Books have made more Fools than ever Nature "defigned." Truth is the fingle Aim of his En quiries; and to ftrew her Paths with Flowers, iss he thinks, to retard rather than to forward the Progress towards her. The Mind is amufing herfelf with little artificial Beauties in the Way, whilst she should be pufhing forward to the End of her Journey. In fhort, as he is naturally of a phlegmatic Constitution, he declares against Enthusiasm of every Sort, efteeming her as the worst Enemy that Truth has to fear. He frequently rallies Philacles upon this: Article; whom he thinks, upon many Occafions, efpecially where the finé Arts are concerned, a downright Visionary.

After the general Compliments had passed between these two Friends-How, faid Sophronius fmiling, fhall answer it to the Dryad of thefe Groves, for thus breaking in upon the Contemplations of her Votary; when, perhaps, the is even now expecting you under fome venerable Oak, or favourite Elm ?

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However romantic you may affect to think me in my Amours, replied Philocles, you do not, in good Earneft, I hope, believe me fo ill a Judge of real Happiness, as to imagine me capable of thinking I could exchange the Pleasures of Friendfhip for any more valuable Enjoyment. No, Sophronius! as great an Admirer as I am of these Beauties of Nature, fhe is no where fo charming to me, as in her moral Operations, and that Harmony fhe produces from focial Concord.

Were I to have traced the Genealogy of FriendThip, returned Sopbronius, I fhould hardly have expected to find Nature her Parent. It feems to me much more reafonable to fuppofe this Union derived from Neceffity and Convenience, or fome other: Principle arifing from our Wants and Imperfections, than any implanted Bias in our Frame, previous to thofe uneafy Feelings. The State of Nature could not have admitted of this refined Commerce; fince every Individual, at that Period, must have had a feparate and oppofite Interest.

It is for that Reason, among others, answered Philocles, why I think it improbable, that fuch a State fhould ever have exifted. There is in our Frame fo ftrong a Bias, fuch an irrefiftible Tendency to unite in the focial Circle, that we must either fuppofe Mankind formed originally with Affections very different from what appear in them at prefent, or give up the Notion of this. barbarous State, as an abfurd and groundless Suppofition.

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It is not to be wondered, faid Sophronius, that the first View of this rude State should startle a Mind, which has been accuftomed to a regular Community, and has formed its Ideas of Truth from familiar Appearances of improved Nature. But it is very easy to mistake Habits for Affections, and afcribe to the direct Impulse of Nature, what is, in reality, owing to the Maturity of Time, and the Difcipline of many Generations. Societies have been long eftablished: Ufe has taught us the Advantages, that are derived from them; and therefore we fancy that Men fall naturally and unavoidably into Affociations; when the Truth is, they are only inclined to be fociable from Practice, rather than from any immediate Incitement of Nature, or the Love of their Species. Look back upon the Accounts which Poets, Philofophers, and Hiftorians give of Mankind in the Infancy of the World; and you will have a View very inconfiftent with a Principle of friendly Union and focial Coalition. They defcribe them not only without Arts and Sciences, but without Habitations, Laws, or even Language it felf, and feeding upon the raw Herbage, like their fellow Brutes, the Tenants of the fame Shade and Pasture. I remember a Passage in Cicero, where he speaks to this Pupofe of the firft Race of Mortals [4]. And Horace [b], as well as Lucreti

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[a] Nam fuit quoddam tempus, cùm in agris homines, beftiarum more vagabantur: nec quidquam ratione animi, fed pleraque viribus corporis adminiftrabant. Non jus æquabile, quicquid utilitatis haberet, acceperat, &c. CICERO de Invent. lib. i.

[6] Cum prorepferunt prin is animalia terris,

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