we had not told us fo himmuch leis a famous Jefuit. He as Crier; the Gentlemen of we in at ime Thanks; they generally Ball Xetter upon any Subject they Te a mole Subject loosely a ar to worè; for I might add nd I been his proper Supe as Confinement at La ET YN ZAtation at Morefields. 27 Feat Mmm. But before I proceed Mr LU Damnation of his Scheme, I I LOVEG Tere re a great many GLY Ty Cittered up and down arte Zerrormance; but favouring more se Fremban, than the Piety and Ordu Zhiofopher. He juftly and gible Trumpery of M forms, and what ilosophy, which Is without a Me ile for Ignora advanced in equally abfur fhocking t than in / Delicacy; his Ideas and Sentiments are often fo low, his Images fo indecent, his Expreffions so coarse, as could hardly be expected from a polite Frenchman and an Ecclefiaftic to a fine Lady, whom, at the fame time, he seems to confider as a Perfon of Difcernment and Diftinction. Let us now follow him his own Way. His firft Chapter is, Of the Understanding of Brutes. He begins with this Question: Have Brutes any Understanding? I am convinced (fays he) that you will not fo much as hesitate upon this Question; fairly prefuming fhe would anfwer in the Affirmative; and as I dare venture to affirm that his fair Correfpondent had not a better Understanding than mine, I will venture to presume the fame for you. An Understanding they certainly have of fuch a Kind or Degree at leaft, as is fufficient for their State and Rank in the universal System, and the feveral Duties and Offices for which they were d by their Creator. Lefs than this, I think, faid, and who prefumes to fay more? Tho known many an honest Fellow that made re in his Neighbourhood, who yet ha better Understand Beaft he rode on tural good Under Philofophy, and dare fay he wou antering him; would not fo ever we ma ei ered mu M 100 ne fon, a s the 1 na es of him; were rneft, short, others with learned Objections proceeding from downright Ignorance, we all own it, we prefume upon it, as a first Principle, we reafon upon it, and act agreeably, as we make it an unerring Rule to direct us in the Treatment and Management of our domeftic Animals; this it is that guides us in the Education of our Dogs and Horfes, to train them up by Correction and Difcipline to the feveral Offices for which they are intended, and the Services which we expect to receive from them. This it is that directs us to carefs and reward them when they do well, and to correct and punish them when they are vicious and difobedient. Did we confider them as mere Machines, as Creatures that had no Senfe, Understanding, or Reflection, this Conduct would be as abfurd and ridiculous, as it would be to carefs and reward your Clock or your Watch for going well, or correct and punish them with a Whip or Cudgel for going wrong. On the other hand, we difcover in Brutes plain and evident Marks of Senfe and Underftanding. They are fenfible what we do to them, and what they do to us. When, for inftance, I see a Dog haftening to me when I call him, caress me when I stroke him, tremble when I rate him, run away from me when I beat him: Nay, further, when I fee him reflecting and reasoning upon my Conduct towards him, I must conclude, he is acted by fome higher Principle than mere Mechanifin. Be pleased, Madam, to try this Experiment with your beloved Veny, (though, upon fecond Thoughts, he has been too much and too long a Favourite, to apprehend any Danger from your Hands) or call any other Dog of the Family, whose Hunger may make him leap at a good Morfel, fhew him a Piece of Meat in your Left-hand, and hide your Right-hand behind you, and fee how he will behave; especially if he knows he has been guilty of a Fault, or been rated or punished for fome Misdemeanour. He will either not come near you at all, unless urged by the Violence of his Hunger, or approach you with the utmost Diffidence and Caution; for thus I hear him reasoning with himself : Surely this is not the Hand that used to feed me, and why is that other Hand hid from me? That Hand, from which I have received many a fore Stripe when I have offended, has now, I fear, some secret Vengeance, fome Whip, or Cudgel, in store for me, if I get within the Reach of it; I will therefore prefer the Dog's Portion of Hunger and Eafe, before Lafhes and Stripes, and broken Bones. Ay! and he is much in the right, he reasons well, and discovers more Senfe, and better Logic, than many a stupid Puppy with two Legs, who lives at random, who purfues every Appearance of Pleasure, gratifies every Appetite, fubmits to every Demand of Luft or Fancy, without Thought or Reflection, and rushes with his Eyes open into certain Diseases, Beggary, and Damnation. Now then, if the Senfes and Perceptions of Brutes be so quick and lively, if, from those Perceptions, they never fail to draw juft and rational Conclufions, and to make a practical Use of them for the preventing Pain, or procuring Pleasure, if, by the different Motions and Gestures of their Bodies, or Sound of their Voice, they exprefs their different Sentiments of Joy and Sadnefs, of Pain or Pleafure, of Fear and Defire, of Love or Hatred; I cannot help concluding from thence, that they have in them some Principle of Knowledge and Sentiment, be it what it will. Now, were all the Philofophers in the World to affert and maintain the Cartefian Opinion of their being Machines, there is fome ftrong inward Conviction in every fenfible unprejudiced Mind that gives them the Lye, though we were not able to confute their Assertion, nor defend our own; and furely nothing but the Vanity of a Frenchman could ever expect that fo abfurd a Scheme could pafs upon a learned World for found Reafon and true Philofophy. For my own part, I could as foon expect to fee Gallantries between a Couple of amorous Clocks or Watches, or a Battle betwixt two quarrelfome Windmills. The Notion of Instinct, though not so palpably abfurd, is equally obscurę, unneceffary, and useless, for all the great Ends and Purposes which it is intended to serve. They who use it, do not pretend to define it, to fhew us its real Nature, or wherein it confifts; they feem only to speak of it as a blind Impetus, and unknown Impulse; a Kind of mechanical Neceffity, by which we are in a manner compelled to perform fuch and fuch Actions, without being able to know or explain the Reasons for fo doing. By this they pretend to account for many wonderful Operations and Effects in the almost infinite Variety of Species through the Brute-Creation, fuch as, for inftance, all Sorts of Birds building their Nefts in exact Uniformity of Model, and with the fame Materials, all the various Methods of Cure, that both Birds and Beasts have recourse to, when they are any ways indisposed or wounded; this it is, they fay, that teaches the Sparrows to purge themselves with Spiders and other Infects; this teaches Birds to fwallow Gravel, to |