DIA'LOGtJE IL

Of Paradife7hc Ideas thereof derived fromthe period ofyouthfrom love^ and the hap^fhiefs of a rural If

e

Whether Paradfe ever

exijied ?Why Mofes places it at fuch adiftance^ in afoj^t ofencha?2ted region ?Whythis region has been thefubjeB offo many ro-mantic fables ?-^0f the Tree of LifeOf

. thefuppofed tendency of the imagery ofPara-^

dife to attach the mind too much to the plea-fares of fenfeOf the converfe of Adamwith the animalsA fketch of the GoldenAgCy with refpeB to the peaceftd i?2tercourfe

of living creatures with each otherOf lovein ParadfeIlhiftrations on the tender affec-^tions between the fexes in this ancient tradi-

tionOf the Tree of KnowledgeWhy theferpent anight eat of the Tree^ and not ourFirfl Parents ?The charaBer of the fer-pentWhy Adam and Eve defired to be likethe Elohim ?The difference between trueandfalfe wifdomThe Tree ofKnowledge

Whether an apologue or a hijlory ?A nar-ration ofhigh antiquityThe effects ofeating

the

( 40the forbidden fruity even the introduEilon ofour Firjl Parents into a new JiateOf therelation which this fory has to us// con*tains the principles of differe7it kinds ofEajlern poetryOf the cherubim Of theivar-chariots of the Lord in HabakkukOfthe cherubim of MofesOf the temple ofSolomon andEzekielOfEzekiePs che?"ub

The tradition concernijig the oldejl^ fabulousanimal^ which was faid to guard the trea^fures of ParadifeWhether the cherubims

of Mofes were fphynxes ?How the cheru^lim pafedf^om the ark of the tefimony int9the clouds^ and became at length a propheticvifionOfthe compofition ofthe Cherubim-^The origin oftheir MythologyOfthe Mountof the affembled gods in the EajlOf thechariot of Elias^ and the war-chariot ofGodin the wildernefsOfthe mo/1 ancient reprc-*fentcUion ofthunder.

C 43 )

DIALOGUE IL

jluGENius. Welcomej my friend^We;are very lucky in the weather: it is a fine

morning,and Nature has a p.leafmg afpelof youth,.

Alciphron. This afped is well adaptedto the fubjed propofed for our prefent con-verfation. You feem defirous to carry meback to the cradle and childhood of thehuman race, and alfo to the paradife of myinfancy ; for, indeed, the fpecies, as well as

the individual, is deftlned to pafs throughdifferent periods and modes of exiftence, andthe confideration of its progreffive motion istruly interefting. Befides, the early, the

primitive flate of humanity^ will recall thepleafmg remembrance of my youth, and theinfancy of the world will revive the ida ofmy own happy childhood. It was to me avery high entertainment, in my earlieft years,to wander, in fancy, through the delightfulfields of Paradife, to accompany the fathers of

the

44 ORIENTAL DIALOGUES.

the human race in their firft aflbciatlons andconnexions, and to take a fympathetic con-cern in their pleafures and pains. The poetswho defcribe the charafters, manners, and en-joyments of thefe primitive times, made deepand lively impreffions upon my mind : andyou know, that we have eminent Bards, whohave treated on thefe intereftlng fubjefts*

EuGENius. Every country has its Bards:in all nations, which are not totally favage,we perceive, at lead, fome faint traces of thefelicity of the firft Golden Ages. The poets,who, as genuine children of the mufes, weremoft diftinguifhed by their fenfibility and in-nocence, have preferved and animated the in-terefting tradition of paft felicity, and handedit down to fucceeding generations. In ourearly youth we are pleafed with thefe ideas ofprimitive and rural happinefs, and we formnotions of it according to our refpe

ORIENTAL DIALOGUES. 45

firft ages ; and thefe will always maintam theircredit by being the favourite poetry of ouryounger years. And, after all, what is theobjedthe ultimate end of all our wifhes ?To w^hat would they tend in an uncorruptedftate, but to Paradife ; or, in other words, ta

the enjoyment of health and love, fmiplicityand innocence, amid ft the rural beauties ofnature ?

Alciphron. It may be fobut, in themean time, it is much to be lamented, thatall this feems to be little more than a dream

;

or, at beft, a fplendid vifion. The primitiveParadife is loft :the Paradife of our fpring,our youthful days, is tranfitory ; the bloomingverdure of our vernal feafon pafles with rapi-dity, and leaves us expofed to the hot fum-mer-fun of painful labour, with all that trainof wants and cares which accompany the ad-vanced period and evening of life. Nay,even fuppofing a nation or people were to befound in the enjoyment of that peace, inno-cence, and harmony, which conftitutes a Para-dife, there is, alas ! always a ferpent whichcreeps in, under fome form or other, to blafttheir joys, and poifon their felicity. Wherever

the

46 ORIENTAL DIALOGUES*

the Tree of Life grows and bloflbms forman, there fprings up near it, a Tree ofprefumptuous curiofity and knowledge^ whofefruit is death* Alas I what is man ?

EuGENius, You fpeak, not only witheloquence, but alfo with precifion on this in-terefting fubjed: \ and you ftate the cafe,which we are to confider, in its true point ofview.

Alciphron. And, neverthelefs, I havemy doubts concerning the fads which areemployed to afcertain the original ftate ofhuman nature. Do you really think thatthere ever was fuch a place as Paradife,andare we to look upon the fplendid accounts ofthis delightful region as any thing more thanpoetical fidion ? Mofes reprefents it as a fortof enchanted land^ unknown to him : heplaces it in fuch a ftrange and remote region,that imagination has a large field for inven-tion and embellifhment, and the hiftorian isin no danger of being refuted, even were hisrecital fabulous. Accordingly, learned menhave entei'tained different opinions concern-ing the fituation of this famous garden :

fome

ORIENTAL DIALOGUES. 47

fome place it on the Golden r'lver^ others onthe Fhajisy which flows around Colchis;others again on the Oxiis^ which waters therich plains of Cachemire ; and there are notwanting writers who place it on the banks ofthe Indus and the Euphrates, One thing isevident, and that is, that the facred hiftoriaareprefents the Deity as forming a beautifulgarden in a widely-extended diftrid:, whichhe calls Eden^ a land of delights. But whereIhall we find the wonderful Trees whichgrew in it, the Tree of Knowledge^ and theTree of Life? Did thefe enchanted trees everblofTom. ? And where flood the Cherubim^which guarded thepaffage to the Tree of Life ?or rather, Where does it now (land ? Hathnot this whole narration a fabulous appear-ance ?

EuGENius. Such an appearance it muftnaturally have, and we fhall fee, prefently,where fable and truth, which are fo oftenMended^ may be diftingulfhed, and hiiloricalfads be feparated from their poetical embellifh-ments. You have juftly obferved, thatMoses, or, rather, ancient tradition, confi-dered the region, in which Paradife was

placed.

48 ORIENTAL DIALOCUES^

placed, only In its vaft extent, and withoutany precife determination of its limits. Youhave alfo obferved that it was precifely thisregion, which was the land of fables, from,whence the inhabitants of the ancient worlddrew their moll beautiful ideas and inventions.From hence proceeded their fanciful defcrlp-tions of the Golden Fleece^ of the apples of theHefperides^ and the tree of Immortality.This was the land of the firft inhabitants ofthe ancient world, the pleafure-garden oftheir Genii and deities, of the Dfmns^ the Peris

^

the Neris^ and other enchanted beings. Butdo not all fuch fanciful relations manifeftlyprove, that there was, fomewhere, in the oldworld, a real ftate and conftitution of things,which gave occafion to thefe inventions, andthat we muft feek the origin of all thefe fabu-lous defcrlptions in fome tradition of a morefimple kind ? For when we fee the hiftoricaland fabulous relations of all ages and placesof the world, terminating, as it were, in onecommon fet of objedls, and, almoft all, point-ing to the fame region, we cannot help think-ing, that there muft have been, fome where, aground for all thefe traditions, fome fixedpoint from whence they proceeded. It is

evident,

ORIENTAL DIALOGUES. 4gevident, both from hiftory, and the gradualprogrefs of mankind towards complete civi-lization, that the human race muft have hadits commencement in fome particular fpot

;

and confidering the reports of hiftory, andthe ftrudlure of this our globe, where can wemore naturally feek the origin of mankind,than in that region, to which all the relationsabove mentioned evidently point ? Here liethe moft elevated parts of Jfia^ the barrier,if I may ufe that exprefFion, of the old world.This immenfe region comprehends the moftfruitful hills and valleys, which feel the influ-ence of our fun, and here Nature fheds herblefiings upon mortals with a liberal hand,and anticipates their labours. Moses fpeaksof this part of the v\^orld only in general terms,^vvithout any minute or circumftantial detail,and this is a fufEcient proof of its exlftence.He did not judge it proper to fay more thanthe tradition contained ; and, as he had nevervifited this happy region, nor, confequently,brought from it any of the regifters or ar-chives of Paradife, fo neither was it pofFiblefor him to do any thing in this refped:, butwhat he has really done. But you muft con-fider, my friend, that it is not our prefent

E bufmefs

fO ORIENTAL DIALOG0ES-

bufinefs either to clear up or vindicate the

hiftorical fad. We leave it to circulate, as atradition of the ancient world ; and onlymean to confider what it has contributed tothe formation, fpirit, and improvement ofancient poetry* We may confider it as aroot.

Alciphrcn. It is certain, that from thisroot a beautiful tree has fprung up, bearing

m^ny branches and bloflbms of a rich andlively verdure ; for the traditions concerningParadife are expreffed, by the Prophets, inthe boldeft allufions and poetical images.The Tree of Life ftill flourifhes in the laftbook of the Sacred Writings : it forms thusthe commencement and the end of theHebrew Poetry*

EuGENitrs. And beautiful is its begin-ning, and beautiful its end, my dear Alci-phron ! Hovnt has the Paradife of Adam beenennobled by the Prophets ? They extend iteven to the times of the MefTiah. Nay, the

Avrlters of the Nev/ Teftament have aggran-dized it fo far as to give its name to the ce-

leflial world. There grows and flouriflies theTree

ORIENTAL DIALOGUES. j^I

Tree of Life in never-fading bloom:

thither do we all dired: our courfe, to feek,beyond the gulphs and ftormy leas of thistranfitory worlds the truly Fortunate IJlands\

the Golden Age^ which will be permanent andeternal. In all the Oriental Poetry, and,

even in the writings of the Arabian and Per-fian Bards, the term Faradife exprefles, (if

we may ufe the language of the painters,) theideal^ or the moil exalted conception ofhuman joy and felicity. It is the anticipatingdream of love, youth, hope, and, finally, of afuture deftination, where

No fruitlefs wiflies torment the heartNo painful reiie,xions opprefs the mind-Where every objeft is permanent and pleafing ;Where lucid flreams exhale perpetual fragrance ;And where mortality and corruption are unknown*

Alciphron. This fcenery is no doubtenchanting : but are not thefe ideas adaptedto attach men too much to the pleafures offenfe ?

Eugenius. Allow me to aik you in myturn, Whether you can conceive any kind ofpoetry, in which either a prefent or a futureworld can be delhieated without the affiftance

E 2 of

ji. ORIENTAL DIALOGUES.

of fenfible objects, and the ideas which theyexcite ? We know nothing of the beauties ofa prefent world, but by the impreflions theymake on our external fenies, and the ideaswhich accompany thefe impreffions ; howthen can we fpeak of a future world, withoutemploying terms and images analogous tothefe ? Accordingly we find that, in the ear-lieft ages of the world, the ideas which menformed of a future ftate, were of the famekind with thofe which are excited in themind by the impreffion of external objedls.It is alfo certain, that, in after-times, the ideas

of many became fcill more grofs and fenfual,as imagination, corrupted more and more byirregular paffions, rendered them incapable ofrelifhing, or even conceiving, any enjoymentbeyond animal pleafures ; and thus we findMahomet giving a grofsly fenfual account ofhis paradife, drawn from his own impure andgrovelling propenfities. But all this mifrepre-

fentation proceeds from the abuies of men,and not from the nature of the thing. Nay,it may perhaps be affirmed, that even theMahometans have been mifreprefented in thismatter. Whatever may be faid, with truth,of the licentioufneis of their chief, it is well

known,

ORIENTAL DIALOGUES. 53

known, that their poets and philofophershave fpoken of the future Paradife with asmuch chaftity and metaphyfical refinement asthofe of the northern nations. In general we

muft take into confideration the natural cha-radter and genius of the Orientals, and theirufual manner of expreffing their ideas. Asthey feel and enjoy with a peculiar fenfibility,we muft not be furprifed that their poeticaldefcriptions of love, pleafure, expedation,and hope, are animated, and glowing in ahigh degree.

Alciphron. To this I have no objec-tion :I am rather difpofed to commend ithighly in poetical compofitions, vv^hich havefor their objeds, the innocent and agreeableimpreffions made upon the mind by thepidurefque defcriptions of rural fcenes : butI ftill think that thefe Elyfian fcenes have adangerous tendency to bend the mind toomuch towards terreftrial gratifications, towhich the eaftern nations are ftrongly in-clined.

EuGENius. I cannot, I confefs, enter-tain any anxious apprehenfions of this kind,

E '\ when

54. ORIENTAL DIALOGUES.

when I confider the prefent ftate of man^mingled, as it is, with pain, labour, andforrow, and thus Handing in need of the plea^fures of fancy and hope, at leaft, to call fomerays of comfort on its gloom. On the con^trary, I feel a fmcere delight, when I find theeaftern Bards, in their national fongs, repre-fenting the verdant plains, the trees that pro^jed a deep and refrefhing fhade, the chryftallakes and purling ftreams, as the remains ofthe ancient Paradife, and the prefage of itsreftoration, in a future fcene, w^hich they callthe land of Kden^ the happy region of tran-quillity and contentment. How different arethefe views of a future deftination from thefordid notions of thofe northern Bards, the^fons of Odln^ who place their departed heroesin lofty halls, daubed with gold, and loaded"with hogflieads of metheglin and beer, whichthey fwill out of the fl^ulU of their flaughteredenemies ! How different alfo from the odiousfyftein of thofe pretended fages, in mor^civilized nations and times, who reprefent thenatural and ultimate ftate of man as a flate ofwar, f 'f]lh difcord and tumult, in which eachindividual fij;ids enemies in all with whom heconyerfes ! Ah ! Alciphron, gloomy and

inimical

ORIENTAL DIALOGUES. 55

inimical to man are the mufes which infpire

fuch ferocious and uncomfortable lays ! Itis

the objed and end of poetry to elevate and hu-

manize the mind, and to render man not fierce

and favage, but fociable and benevolent.All

the poetical ideas and images, that haveatend-

ency to produce thefe effeas, contributeeffen-

tiall'y to his true improvement ; and, confe-

quently,the fubUme and beautiful piduresof a

Paradife of innocence, love, and contentment,

in the bofom of renewed and exalted nature,

muft tend diredly to this improvement.

Alciphron. And have the two famous

enchanted trees this tendency alfo ?

EuGENius. The TREE OF LIFE, moll cer-

tainly. This tree, in Oriental poetry, pre-

fents a moft pleafing, a moll deUghtful image,

even were the objed merely poetical If we

knew where it grew, we would all, furely,

dlred, with ardour, our courfe thither, and

take ihelter under its foliage. But now, while

piety, teviperance, and wifdom, are held forth

as a Tree of Life, which grOweth for all, and

qn the fruits of which all may feed, let us pa-

tiently wait for the other, until theproper

E ^feafon.

^6 ORIENTAL DIALOGUES.

feafon. O ! my friend, how beautiful andaffeding does the Tree of Life appear, as it

is defcribed in the laft book of the NewTeftament ! There it rifes in profpedt, at theend of our wanderings and conflidls in thistranfitory ftate : there it flourifhes in the

Paradife of God, to refefh the weary anddrooping pilgrims with its ever-growingfruits, and to cover the nations with its ver-dant and never-fading umbrage. O ! Alci-phron, do not labour to fhed the baneful miftsof fcepticifm and infidelity over this delight-ful profped. Leave me, I befeech you, this

tree, that, when my parched tongue feeks re-frelhment in vain, and my palate can nomore receive pleafure from any fruits of ter-reftrial growth, I may fend forth the laftbreath of this mortal life, in the well-groundedhope of an entrance into the Paradife of God.

Alciphron. And as to the Tree ofKnowledge

Eu GENIUS. We fhall fpeak of that elfe-where. At prefent, let m-e afk you. Whetheryou do not think the Creator's bringing theanimals to Adam, that he might fee hov/ they

fliould

ORIENTAL DIALOGUES. 57

ihould refpedlvely be named, a beautiful traitin the pidurefque defcription of Paradlfe ?In this keen and attentive contemplation ofthe inferior clafles of living creatures, the firft

man exerted his faculties, formed them to theaft of obferving and the habit of diilinguifli-ing, as alfo to the powers of coinpai^'ifon andabJlra5lion, In a word, the underftanciing andfpeech of the firft man were thus gradually

and naturally improved and formed. Thefounds emitted by the animals, and by hisown organs, according to his ideas and per-ceptions of the objedls before him, v^ere thefirfl words In Adam's Didionary. The firftnotices of conjTitutmi and charaEier in the ani-mals were eafily perceived by him, when hebeheld and examined them with attention, asIn their gait, their motions, and in their man-ner of living, there are evident marks of theirfpecific and refpedive charaders ; and thusthe animals were gradually led into a kind offociety with man. Accordingly, there is noreprefentation of Paradlfe in which the fami-liar intercourfe of the inferior creatures v/ith

Adam is omitted. They are always repre-fented as acknowledging 7nan to be their Lord^and as (hewing a peaceable and voluntary fub-miflion to his authority.

Alci-

58 ORIENTAL DIALOGUES.

Alciphron. This, furely, has the afpedlof a fabulous period, in two refpedts