NERO gave Entertainments, where young People of Quality of both Sexes attended without being cover'd with any Vail. Heliogabalus had his Chariot drawn by naked Women. What a Happiness is it that there were Neroes and Heliog abulufes, fince that did happen, the Good of the Universe required that it should happen! Without a Nero and an Heliogabulus a Link would have been wanting, and from thence (fince all the Pieces depend on one another) the Confufion would have reached to the Throne of God *. IF being infatuated with a Syftem be not Pedantry, what is? We laugh to fee the Appearance of a Fool upon the Stage, who against faying the Form of a Hat, and not the Figure, exclaims; "Ariftotle. "would not have expreffedhimself thus." Shall we laugh lefs at a Man, who defigning to lay his Hat upon a Table, lets it fall upon the Floor, and fays very feri oufly; It was as should not happen, impoffible that this as it is that the Sun K 2 fhould Heav'n's whole Foundations to their Centre nod, And Nature trembles to the Throne of God. fhould not fet to Day? In the System of the Universe all is connected, the greateft as the leaft. There must be wife Men in the Counfels of Kings, and mad Men in Bedlam. And here is one found. IF I was a Leibnitzian, and at Night should take a Review of my Behaviour, What a Happiness is it, fhould I fay, that I crufh'd that Snail! Since it is dead, it is a Proof that the Continuation of its Life would have been a Disorder capable of overletting the Univerfe! But what a Happiness is it too, that I was taken off from treading upon another, for fince that remained alive, it was neceffary to the Good of the Whole! WHEN Naturalifts have made an Hypothefis, and indulge themfelves in a Conjecture; if they are wife, the more it is peculiar to them, the more they diftruft it, for fear of deceiving them. felves. They oblige themfelves to examine first of all whether it does not fuppofe any thing impoffible, inconceivable, or any thing that is against Common Sense; if it does, they abandon it... Now Now the Leibnitzian Hypothefis overthrows the fimple and natural Ideas of Morality, of Juft and Unjuft, of Laudable and Punishable; it is not in the Power of intelligent Natures to act otherwife than they do; they Will nothing but what they are under an inevitable Neceffity of Willing, and without which nothing could prevent the Univerfe being over thrown.. BESIDES, this System has no Regard to the Proportion which ought to be maintained between Caufes and their Effects. 'Tis agreed, for Example, that there is only an arbitrary Connection between the Characters of Writing and the Sounds of Speech, fince the fame Words, that is to fay, the fame Sounds, may be expreffed by quite different Characters: Yet the Impreffion of the Characters, drawn upon a Paper, makes upon the Eyes, that have no Knowledge, a mechanical Impreffion, from whence the Sounds refult. If the Eye of the Body is ftruck by these Characters, PUT THIS LATIN INTO FRENCH, thefe Characters no ways perceiv'd, that is to fay, of which the Eye has no Idea, will, by K 3 the the Intervention of the Eye, make an Impreffion upon the Organs of the Voice, and the Hand, from whence will be produced French Characters and Sounds, without any Understanding being concerned in them. A NATURAL Philofopher will oblige himself too to abandon the Hypothefis, whenever it will not furnish him with Explications applicable to thofe Phenomena which it is defign'd to explain. Now, what an Infatuation muft it be, not to fee that the Leibnitzian Syftem of Fatality is entirely contrary to the moft inconteftable Facts! A Country Woman puts twelve Eggs under a Hen to fit on, another puts fourteen; if the first had put fourteen, and the fecond twelve, this Confufion of Time and Place would have drawn Disorder too on the Universe, and much more fo, if one had put thirteen and the other fif teen. MR De Reaumur has taught the Method of taking those white Butterflies from which the Caterpillars that devour Cabbages are produc'd. Before this, thefe Butterflies multiplied in great abundance, and and the Syftem of the Univerfe neceffarily requir'd that it fhould be fo; for every thing there is connected, every thing in a Chain. If afterwards thefe Butterflies were produced in much lefs Numbers, there would happen Changes in the Universe which required fuch a Diminution, and, in order that it might take place, inevitable Causes determin'd Mr De Reaumur to publish his Book. I am delighted whenever I meet, in reading Mr Pope, with fome Lines which depart from the Syftem of Fatality. Verse 253. What if the Head, the Eye, or Ear repin'd THE pre-eftablifh'd Harmony does not fuffer any one to think thus, who allows the Body no Power over the Mind, nor the Mind over the Body. Verse 259. All are but Parts of one ftupendous Whole, Glows |