SOCIETY, n. s. Fr. societé; Lat. societas. Union of many in one general interest; company; converse partnership.

To make society

The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself Till supper-time alone. Shakspeare. Macbeth. Whilst I was big in clamour, there came a man, Who, having seen me in my worser state, Shunned my abhorred society. Id. King Lear. As there is no society free from some corruption, so it is hard, if, in a community of men, there be not some faithfulness. Bp. Hall. Contemplations.

Solitude sometimes is best society, And short retirement urges sweet return. Milton. As the practice of piety and virtue is agreeable to our reason, so is it for the interest of private persons and publick societies.

Tillotson.

Heaven's greatness no society can bear; Servants he made, and those thou wantest not here. Dryden.

If the power of one society extend likewise to the making of laws for another society, as if the church could make laws for the state in temporals, or the state make laws binding the church relating to spirituals, then is that society entirely subject to the other. Lesley.

SOCIETY. It may seem somewhat eccentric to insert the article SOCIETY, as an article in a

dictionary of science. But if it be considered how closely all the arts and sciences are connected with society, that they are all studied, discovered, cultivated, and improved, only in consequence of the association of mankind, and that in a solitary or savage state they can hardly have any existence, the propriety of inserting this important article in a scientific form will appear

self-evident.

The subject falls naturally to be divided into two parts; I. Concerning the rise, progress, advantages, and declension of civilised society: II. Giving a short account of various public societies for the promotion, improvement, and general diffusion of arts, sciences, religion, morals, and humanity.

wandering naked through the woods, destitute of arts, unskilled in agriculture, scarcely capable of moral distinctions, void of all religious sentiments, or possessed with the most absurd notions concerning superior powers, and procuring means of subsistence in a manner equally precarious with that of the beast of prey-we look down with pity on their condition, or turn from it with horror. When we view the order of cultivated society, and consider our institutions, arts, and manners-we rejoice over our superior wisdom and happiness.

Man in a civilised state appears a being of a superior order; yet some philosophers tell us that it is only he who, having been educated in society, has been taught to depend upon others, that can be helpless or miserable when placed in a solitary state. They view the savage who exerts himself with intrepidity to supply his wants, or bears them with fortitude, as the greater hero, and possessing the greatest happiness.

Whatever be the supposed advantages of a solitary state, certain it is that mankind, at the earliest period, were united in society. Various theories have been formed concerning the circumstances and principles which gave rise to this union: but we have elsewhere shown that the greater part of them are founded in error; that they suppose the original state of man to have been that of savages; and that such a supposition is contradicted by the most authentic records of antiquity. For though the records of the earlier ages are generally obscure, fabulous, and imperfect, yet happily there is one narrative free from the imperfections of the rest, and of undoubted authenticity, to which we may safely have recourse. This is found in the Pentateuch of

Moses, which presents us with a genuine account of the origin of man and of society.

According to Moses the first society was that of a husband and wife united in the bonds of marriage; the first government that of a father and husband, the master of his family. Men lived together under the patriarchal form of government, while they employed themselves chiefly in tending flocks and herds. Children in such circumstances cannot soon rise to an equality with their parents, where a man's importance depends on his property, not on his abilities.

When flocks and herds are the chief articles of property, the son can only obtain these from his father: in general, therefore, the son must be dependent on the father for the means of subsistence. If the parent, during his life, bestow on his children any part of his property, he may do it on such conditions as shall make their dependence upon him continue till the period of his death. When the community are by this event deprived of their head, instead of continuing in a state of union, and selecting some one from among themselves whom they may invest with the authority of a parent, they separate into so many distinct tribes, each subjected to the authority of a different lord, the master of the family,

Those philosophers who have made society, in its various stages between rudeness and refinement, the subject of their speculations, have generally considered mankind, in whatever region or climate of the globe, as proceeding uniformly through certain regular gradations from one extreme to the other. They regard them, first, as gaining a precarious subsistence by gathering the spontaneous fruits of the earth, or by fishing or hunting. Next, they say, man rises to the shepherd state, and next, to that of husbandmen, when they turn their attention from the management of flocks to the cultivation of the ground. Next, these husbandmen improve their powers, and better their condition, by becoming artizans and merchants; and the beginning of this period is the boundary between barbarity and civilisation. These are the stages through which they who have written on the natural history of society have generally conducted mankind from rudeness to refinement: but they have overlooked the manner in which mankind were at first established on this earth; the circumstances in which the parents of the human race were originally placed; the degree of knowledge communicated to them; and the instruction which they must have been capable of communicating to their posterity. They rather appear to consider the inhabitants of every different region of the globe as aborigines, springing at first from the ground, or dropped on the spot which they inhabit; no less ignorant than infants of the nature and relations of the objects around them, and of the purposes which they may accomplish by the exercise of their organs and faculties.

The absurdity of this theory has been fully demonstrated elsewhere. See SAVAGISM. And, if

we receive the Mosaic account of the original establishment of mankind, we shall view the phenomena of social life in a light very different. Though many of the rudest tribes are found in the state of hunters or fishers, yet the hunting or fishing state cannot have been invariably the primary form of society. Notwithstanding the powers with which we are endowed, we are in a great measure the creatures of circumstances. Physical causes exert, though indirectly, a great influence in forming the character and directing the exertions of the human Moses informs us that the first societies of men lived under the patriarchal form of government, and employed themselves in the cultivation of the ground and management of flocks. And as we know that mankind, being subjected to the influence both of physical and moral causes, are no less liable to degeneracy than capable of improvement, we may easily conceive that, though descending all from the same original pair, and though enlightened with much traditionary knowledge relative to the arts of life, the order of society, moral distinctions, and religious obligations;

race.

yet as they were gradually, and by various accidents, dispersed over the earth, being removed to situations in which the arts with which they were acquainted could but little avail them, where inby the severity or the profusion of nature, they dustry was overpowered, or indolence encouraged, might degenerate and fall into a condition almost as humble and precarious as that of the bruta! tribes.

If, then, laying aside the spirit of theory and system, we set ourselves to trace facts, and to listen to evidence; though our supposed discoveries may be fewer, yet the knowledge we thus acquire will be more useful and our speculations more consistent with true philosophy.

If, then, we are further desirous of surveying society in its rudest form, we must look, not to the earliest period of its existence, but to those districts of the globe where external circumstances concur to drive men into a state of stupidity and wretchedness. Thus, in many places. of the happy clime of Asia, which a variety of ancient records concur with the sacred writings in representing as the first peopled quarter of the globe, we cannot trace the form of society backwards beyond the shepherd state. In that state, indeed, the bonds which connect society extend not to a wide range of individuals, and men remain for a long period in distinct families; but yet that state is highly favorable to knowledge, to happiness, and to virtue. Again, the torrid and the frozen regions of the earth, though probably peopled at a later period, and by tribes sprung from the same stock with the shepherds of Asia, have yet exhibited mankind in a much lower state. It is in the parched deserts of Africa and the wilds of America that human beings have been found in a condition approaching the nearest to that of the brutes.

We may therefore take a view of the different stages through which philosophers have considered mankind as advancing, beginning with that of rudenesss, though we have shown that it cannot have been the first in the progress.

SECT. III.-OF THE RUDE STATE, OR SUPPOSED

FIRST STAGE OF SOCIETY.

Where the human species are in the lowest and rudest state, their rational and moral powers are very faintly displayed; but their external senses are acute, and their bodily organs active and vigorous. Hunting and fishing are then their chief employments and only support. During that time which is not spent in these pursuits, they are sunk in listless indolence. They are roused to active exertion only by the pressure of necessity or the urgent calls of appetite. Accustomed to endure the severity of the elements, and but scantily provided with the means of subsistence, they acquire habits of fortitude, which are beheld with astonishment by those who enjoy the plenty of cultivated life. But in this state of want and depression, when the powers and possessions of every individual are scarcely sufficient for his own support, when even the calls of appetite are repressed because they cannot always be gratified, and the more refined passions, which either originate from such às are merely animal, or are intimately con

nected with them, have not yet been felt-in this state all the milder affections are unknown; or if the breast is at all sensible to their impulse, it is extremely feeble. Husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, are united by the weakest ties. If we listen to the relations of respectable travellers, human beings have sometimes been found in that abject state where no proper ideas of subordination, government, or distinction of ranks, could be formed. No distinct notions of deity can be here entertained. Of arts they must be almost totally destitute. They may use some instruments for fishing or the chase but these must be rude and simple. To shelter them from the inclemency of the elements, both their houses and clothing will be aukward and inconvenient.

SECT. IV.-OF THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY IN THE SECOND STAGE.

But human beings have been seldom found in so rude a state as this. Even those tribes which we denominate savage are for the most part farther removed from mere animal life. They generally appear united under some species of government, exercising the powers of reason, capable of morality, though very little refined; displaying some degree of social virtues, and acting under the influence of religious sentiments. These are to be found still in the hunting and fishing state; but they are farther advanced towards social life, and are more sensible to the impulse of social affection. By intercourse in their employments a few hunters or fishers contract a fondness for each other's company, and take some part in each other's joys and sorrows; and, when the social affections thus generated begin to exert themselves, all the other powers of the mind are called forth, and the circumstances of society are improved. Huts are now built, more commodious clothes are made, instruments for the annoyance of wild beasts, and even of enemies, are contrived; in short, arts and sciences, and social order, and religious sentiments and ceremonies, now make their appearance in the rising society. But, though social order is no longer unknown nor unobserved, yet the form of government is still extremely simple, and its ties are but loose and feeble. It may bear some resemblance to the patriarchal; only all its members are on a more equal footing, and at the same time less closely connected than in the shepherd state, to which that form of government seems almost peculiar. The old men are treated with veneration; but the young are not entirely subject to them. They may listen respectfully to their advice; but they do not submit to their arbitrary commands. Where mankind are hunters and fishers, where the means of subsistence are precariously acquired, and prudent foresight does not prompt to accumulate much provision for the future, no individual can acquire comparative wealth. As soon as the son is grown up, he ceases to be dependent on his father, as well as on the society. Difference of experience, therefore, constitutes the only distinction between the young and the old; and, if the old have experience, the young have strength and activity.

Here, then, neither age nor property can give rise to any striking distinction of ranks. All who have attained to manhood, and are not disabled by deficiency of strength or agility, or by the infirmities of old age, are on an equal footing; or, if any one possess a pre-eminence over the rest, he owes it to superior address or fortitude. The whole tribe deliberate; the old give their advice; each individual of the assembly receives or rejects it at his pleasure; and the warrior who is most distinguished for strength, address, and valor, leads out the youth of the tribe to the chase or against the enemy. War, which in the former state did not prevail, now first begins to depopulate the thinly inhabited regions where these hunters and fishers pursue their prey. They are scattered in scanty and separate tribes, over an immense tract of country; but they know no medium between the affection which brethren of the same tribe bear to each other and the hatred of enemies. Though thinly scattered over the earth, yet the hunting parties of different tribes will sometimes meet as they range the forests; and, when they meet, they will view each other with a jealous eye: for the success of the one party in the chase may cause the other to be unsuccessful; and while the one snatches the prey the other must return home to all the pangs of famine. Inveterate hostility will therefore prevail among the neighbouring tribes in the hunting state. They have at this period some ideas of superior beings. They also practise certain ceremonies to recommend them to those beings; but both their sentiments and ceremonies are superstitious and absurd.

We have elsewhere shown (see POLYTHEISM) how savage tribes have probably degenerated from the pure worship of the one true God to the adoration of a multitude of imaginary divinities. We have traced this idolatrous worship from that of the heavenly bodies, through all the gradations of dæmon-worship, hero-worship, and statue-worship, to that wonderful instance of absurd superstition, the worship of the vilest reptiles. But we pretend not that the progress of polytheism has been every where in the same order. The characters and circumstances of nations are scarcely less various and anomalous than those of individuals. Among many of the American tribes, however, among the ancient inhabitants of the forests of Germany, whose manners are so accurately delineated by Tacitus, and in some of the islands scattered over the southern ocean, religion, arts, and government have been found in that state which we have described as the second stage of social life. SECT. V.-OF THE PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT

IN THE THIRD STAGE OF SOCIETY. We may now survey human life as approaching somewhat nearer to a civilised and enlightened state. As property is acquired, inequality and subordination of ranks necessarily follow; and, when men are no longer equal, the many are soon subjected to the will of the few. But what gives rise to these new phenomena is that, after having often suffered from the precariousness of the hunting and fishing state, men begin to extend their cares beyond the present momert,

and to think of providing some supply for future wants. When they are enabled to provide such a supply, either by pursuing the chase with new eagerness and perseverance, by gathering the spontaneous fruits of the earth, or by breeding tame animals, these acquisitions are at first the property of the whole society, and distributed from a common store to each individual. But as, by this mode of distribution, industry and activity are treated with injustice, while negli gence and indolence receive more than their due, each individual will soon become his own steward, and a community of goods will be abolished. As soon as distinct ideas of property are formed, it must be unequally distributed; and, as soon as property is unequally distributed, there arises an inequality of ranks. Here we have the origin of the depression of the female sex in rude ages, of the tyrannical authority exercised by parents over their children, and of slavery. The women cannot display the same perseverance, activity, or address, as the men in pursuing the chase. They are therefore left at home, and from that moment are no longer equals, but slaves, who must subsist by the bounty of the males, and must therefore submit with implicit obedience to all their capricious commands. Even before the era of property, the female sex were viewed as inferiors; but till that period they were not reduced to a state of slavery.

In this period of society new notions are formed of the relative duties. Men now become citizens, masters, and servants; husbands, parents, &c. It is impossible to enumerate all the various modes of government which take place among the tribes who have advanced to this stage; but one thing certain is, the authority of the few over the many is now first established, and that the rise of property first introduces inequality of ranks. In one place the community is subjected to the will of a single person; in another, power may be lodged in the hands of a number of chiefs; and, in a third, every individual may have a voice in creating public officers, and in enacting laws for the support of public order. But as no code of laws is formed during this period, justice is not very impartially administered, nor are the rights of individuals very faithfully guarded.

This is the age of hero-worship, and of tutelary gods; for it is in this stage of society that the invention of arts, which gave rise to that worship, contributes most conspicuously to the public good. War, too, which we considered as beginning first to ravage the earth during the former period, and which is another cause of the deification of dead men, will still prevail in this age, and be carried on with no less ferocity than before, though in a more systematic form. The prevalence of war, and the means by which subsistence is procured, must have considerable influence on the character and sentiments of societies and individuals. The hunter and the warrior are characters quite different from the shepherd and the husbandman. Such in point of government, arts, and manners, religious and moral sentiments, were several of the German tribes described by Tacitus, and the Britons whose character has been sketched by the pen of

Cæsar: such, too, were the Romans in the early period of their history; such, too, the Greeks, whom Homer celebrates as the destroyers of the Trojan state; the northern tribes also, who poured through Asia, Africa, and Europe, and overthrew the Roman empire, appear to have been of a nearly similar character.

In this period of society the state of the arts merits attention. The shepherds and the hunters are in that respect pretty equal. Whether we examine the records of ancient history, or view the islands scattered through the South Sea, or range the wilds of America, or survey the snowy wastes of Lapland and the frozen coast of Greenland-still we find the useful arts in this period, though known and cultivated, in a very rude state; and the fine arts, or such as are cultivated merely to please the fancy or to gratify caprice, displaying an odd and fantastic, not a true or natural, taste; yet this is the period in which eloquence shines with lustre; all is metaphor or glowing sentiment. Languages are not yet copious; and therefore speech is figurative, expressive, and forcible.

But let us advance a little farther, and contemplate our species in a new light, where they will appear with greater dignity and amiableness of character. Let us view them as husbandmen, artizans, and legislators.

SECT. VI.—OF THE RAPID PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT IN THE FOURTH STAGE OF SOCIETY.

Whatever circumstances might turn the attention of any people from hunting to agriculture, or cause the herdsman to yoke his oxen for the cultivation of the ground, certain it is that this change in the occupation would produce a happy change on the character and circumstances of men; it would oblige them to exert a more regular and persevering industry. The hunter is like one of those birds that are described as passing the winter in a torpid state; the shepherd's life is extremely indolent: neither of these is very favorable to refinement. But different is the condition of the husbandman. His labors succeed each other in regular rotation through the whole year; each season has its proper employments; he therefore must exert active persevering industry; and in this state we often find the virtues of rude and polished nations united. This is the period where barbarism ends and civilisation begins. Nations have existed for ages in the hunting or the shepherd state, fixed as by a kind of stagnation, without advancing farther. But scarcely any instances occur in the history of mankind of those who once reached the state of husbandmen remaining long in that condition without rising to a more civilised and polished state. Where a people turn their attention in any considerable degree to the objects of agriculture, a distinction of occupations naturally arises among them. The husbandman is so closely employed through the several seasons of the year in the labors of the field, that he has no longer leisure to exercise all the rude arts known among his countrymen. He has not time to fashion the instruments of husbandry, to prepare his clothes, to build his house, to manufacture household utensils, or to tend those tame animals which he