every Animal to look to his own Preſervation, and which, guided in Man by Reaſon and qualified by Pity, is productive of Humanity and Virtue. Selfiſhneſs is but a relative and factitious Sentiment, engendered in the Boſom of Society, which inclines every Individual to ſet a greater Value upon himſelf than upon any other Man, which inſpires Men with all the Miſchief they do to each other, and is the true Source of what we call Honour.
This Poſition well underſtood, I ſay that Selfiſhneſs does not exiſt in our primitive State, in the true State of Nature; for every Man in particular conſidering himſelf as the only Spectator who obſerves him, as the only Being in the Univerſe which takes any Intereſt in him, as the only Judge of his own Merit, it is impoſſible that a Sentiment ariſing from Compariſons, which he is not in a Condition to make, ſhould ſpring up in his Mind. For the ſame Reaſon, a Man of this kind muſt be a Stranger to Hatred and Spite, Paſſions, which the Opinion of our having received ſome Affront can alone excite; and as it is Contempt or an Intention to injure, and not the Injury itſelf that conſtitutes an Affront, Men who
