An essay on the history of civil society / [Adam Ferguson].

  • Adam Ferguson
Date:
1789
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the history of civil society / [Adam Ferguson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    as our earlieft difcoveries, only perceive a mode of cremation or providence before unknown. We fpeak of art as diftinguiflied from nature; but art itfelf is natural to man. He is in fome meafure the artificer of his own frame, as well as of his fortune, and is deftined , from the firlt age of his being, to invent and contrive. He applies the fame talents to a variety of purpofes, and ads nearly the fame part in very different fcenes. He would be always improving on his fubjedl, and he carries this intention where-ever he moves, through the ftreets of the populous city, or the wilds of the foreft. While he ap- pears equally fitted to every condition, he is upon this account unable to fettle in any. At once cbftinate and fickle, he complains of in- novations, and is never fated with novelty. He is perpetually buffed in reformations , and is con- tinually wedded to his, errors. If he dwell in a cave, he would improve it into a cottage; if he has already built, he would ftill build to a greater extent. But he does not propofe to make rapid and hafty tranfftions; his fteps are progref- ffve and flow; and his force , like the power of a fpring, fflentjy preffes on every reffftance; an effedt is fometimes produced before the caufe is perceived; and with all his talent loi projects, his work is often accomplifhed before the plan is deviled. It appears, perhaps, equally difficult to retard or to quicken his pace; if the projector complain he is tardy, the morahft thinks him unitable; and whether his motions be rapid of
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