Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce His works unwise, of which the smallest part On swelling columns heav'd, the pride of art! Has swept at once th' unbounded scheme of things; From which astonish'd thought, recoiling, turns? CHAP. X. A few Remarks on the Abstract Principle of Pleasure and Pain, as it affects, or governs, some Part of the Animal World. BESIDES the principle of hunger and satiety; of waste and of want; to which I have alluded as the occasion of activity and repose in animal life; there is another governing principle equally strong and general, which also serves to prove the grand simplicity of those laws which direct, or restrict, the locomotive parts of creation, in the course of their destiny. I mean the principle of pleasure and pain. By a wise dispensation of PROVIDENCE it is eternally decreed, that the greatest pleasure which all animals experience shall arise from the exact fulfilment of their duties, or destinies, whatever they may be, and whether they are acquainted with the final object, or not; and, contrariwise, that their greatest pain shall proceed from any dereliction from the line of those duties, whether voluntary or compulsatory: so that, as sensitive beings naturally pursue and cleave to what gives them pleasure; or, in other words, that is agreeable to their sensations; and avoid what is hurtful or painful to them, from the same cause; the great business of the animal world is carried on with unerring steadiness and alacrity. This principle is daily illustrated by a thousand acts that occur before our eyes; but in none does it appear so beautiful, and so important, as when displayed in those ties of affection which unite the interests of several animals in one bond of union; though the kind, genial, and mysterious influences, which draw those ties together, sometimes proceed from very different causes, even in animals of the same species, as may be proved by the conduct of old to young, and young to old. The love of an old animal, for example, must be considered in a great measure disinterested, because it can not only exist wholly independent of its offspring, but is not absolutely compelled to assist it in life, further than by the pleasurable emotions arising from that assistance: but it is very different in the case of the young animal, whose regard for its parent is eminently selfish; it clings to its mother, because experience soon teaches that it is impossible for it to support existence without her. From parental aid, in the morning of life, all nourishment is derived; and it is in the descent of love, and the exquisite pleasures arising from it, that we must look for the springs of present and eternal continuance. Thus may the nature of DIVINE Love find illustration even amidst animals of the lowest and most inconsiderable rank. How beautiful are the lessons, how endearing the practice, of UNIVERSAL BENEVOLENCE! Love does indeed descend! She is of celestial birth: but her emanations, like the sun's meridian beam, when reflected back to its parent skies, lose on earth much of their original brightness. Man, himself, is not more capable of expressing the emotions of joy or of sorrow, by silent gesture, at least, which is sometimes the most powerful of all eloquence, in a more striking or affecting manner, than many of the inferior animals, and especially the feathered warblers of our fields and woods. In my youth, like most other boys, I was an ardent bird's-nester, but was soon weaned from that cruel practice by finding my heart powerfully and irresistibly touched by the sorrows of the poor, plundered, hapless birds; whose griefs were expressed in a thousand little gestures, and inward wailings singularly plaintive, though scarcely audible, which could not but prove deeply affecting. On the discovery of their loss, a chilling horror seems to creep through all the veins, and drive back the ruddy current of their blood to the citadel of life itself; and, remaining for a while fixed in one motionless |