This ſame Study of original Man, of his real Wants, and of the fundamental Principles of his Duties, is likewiſe the only good Method we can take, to ſurmount an infinite Number of Difficulties concerning the Origin of moral Inequality, the true Foundations of political Bodies, the reciprocal Rights of their Members, and a thouſand other ſimilar Queſtions, that are as important as they are ill underſtood.
To conſider human Society with a calm and diſintereſted Eye, it ſeems at firſt ſight to ſhew us nothing but the Violence of the Powerful and the Oppreſſion of the Weak; the Mind is ſhocked at the Cruelty of the one, and equally grieved at the Blindneſs of the other; and as nothing is leſs ſtable in human Life than thoſe exterior Relations, which Chance produces oftener than Wiſdom, and which are called Weakneſs or Power, Poverty or
