Let. 26. Lord BoLINGBROKE. 33

*« ciability: And reaſon, a principle of human nature as wel «« as inſtinct, improved it, and extended it to relations more „«remote, and united ſeveral families into one community, as «« inſtinct had united ſeveral individuals into one family.“ See the third of his Fragments and Eſſays in his fifth volume. And he treats this more largely in the ſixth of thoſe Eſſays, where he obſerves, that“ there is fuch a thing as natural *¹ reaſon implanted in us by the author of our nature; but ««that reaſon would come too flowly to regulate the conduct *of human life, if the All-wiſe Creator had not implanted «¹ in us another principle, that of ſelf-love; which is the ori- * ginal ſpring of human actions, under the direction of inſtinét *« firſt and reaſon afterwards k.“—“ That inſtinét and reaſon *may be conſidered as diſtinct promulgations of the ſame ** law. Self-love directs neceſſarily to ſociability.—Inſtinct « leads us to it by the ſenſe of pleaſure, and reaſon confirms

«e us in it by a ſenſe of happineſs 1.“—“ Sociability is the

—

¹« foundation of human happineſs: Society cannot be main- ««tained without benvolence, juſtice, and other ſocial virtues- « Thoſe virtues therefore are the foundation of fociety. And «« thus are we led from the inſtinctive to the rational law of *« nature.— Self-love operates in all theſe ſtages. We love

*¹«¹ourſelves, we love our families, we love the particular ſo-

¹

* cieties to which we belong. And our benevolence extends «« at laſt to the whole race of mankind. Like ſo many differ- ¹c ent vortices the center of all, is ſelf-love: And that which is «*the moſt diſtant from it is the weakeſt ².“

It appears from this account of the law of nature, that he makes felf-love to be the original ſpring of all human actions, the fundamental principle of the law of nature, and center of the moral fyſtem, to which all the lines of it tend, and in which they terminate. And yet he elſewhere calls“ univerſal bene- «« volence, benevolence to all rational. beings, the great and ¹* fundamental principle of the law of nature*.“ And aſſerts, that ‧the firſt principle of the religion of nature and reaſon *e is a ſociability that flows from univerſal benevolence o.“ In the paſſages above cited, he had expreſly affirmed that ſelt- love begets ſociability, and had reſolved benevolence into ſelf-love as the ociginal principle from which it flows. But here he makes ſociability to flow from univerſal benevolence. I do not well ſee how this can be made to conſiſt upon his ſcheme.

X Vol. v. p. 79. 1 d. p. 80, 81. mIbid. p. 82. 2 Ibid. p. 196.

n Vol. iv. p. 282. Vol. v. p. 98. VoL. II. D Thoſe