.
The great Teutonic Theosopher,
Jacob Behmen,
affirms that a Father begets the Soul as well as Body of his Child; and this strongly coincides with your Judgment of the Matter. All animal Nature also concurs in the same Position; and the Offspring of a Lion, an Eagle, and an Ass, invariably partake of the Qualities of their Progenitors.
In the very early Ages of Mankind; when Honour, and Empire, Precedence, and Station were assigned to superior Merit alone, to Prowess in the Field, or Wisdom in the Council; it is but natural to suppose that the more immediate Descendents, of such Heroes or Patriots, inherited, in a great Measure, the Beauty, Strength, Genius, and Disposition of those from whom they sprung. But some thousands of Years are now passed, my good Sir, since all this Matter has been totally reversed; and the World affords but very rare Instances, where
Washerwomen,
or
Shepherds,
where a
Catherine
of
Russia,
or
Kouli-Kan
of
Persia,
or
Theodore
of
Corsica,
by the mere Force of Genius, have raised themselves from Obscurity to Dominion. These Instances, also are very far from making any Thing in Favour of your Argument; though, unquestionably, were you to write their Romance, you would, agreeable to your Thesis, derive their respective Pedigree from the Queen's of
Utopia,
or some Emperors in
Terra australis incognita.
When Time was young, when Men were respected and advanced (as I said) according to their personal Distinctions and Accomplishments, uncommon Beauty, Strength, and Agility of Body, informed by superior Genius and Talents, were accounted genuine Proofs of a royal or noble Descent. But, in Process of Years, when Art had introduced Luxury, and Luxury had introduced Corruption among the Great, a feeble distempered Frame, informed by a perserse pusillanimous and impatient Temper, became an Indication, by no Means improbable of the genuine Descent of a Child of Quality.
My dear Friend, be cautious! to speak lightly or degradingly of Dignity and Station, does not become People of a certain Sphere.
With all Deference and due Submission, to those who sit in the Seat of
Moses,
or in the Throne of
Caesar,
when we speak as Philosophers, we should speak independent of vulgar Prejudice.
I am not insensible of that internal Respect which the World is pleased to pay to external Luftre. If one Man acquires a Crown, another a red Hat, and another a Coronet, by Means that deserved the Gibbet of
Haman;
they instantly become the presumptive Proprietors of I know not what Catalogue of
