th
severity.

His father did not want understanding, but was a good deal more
indolent than befits a parent.--He had always been accustomed to live
at ease, and his natural aversion to all kinds of trouble, made him
not inspect into the manners or temperament of his son, with that care
he ought to have done. Whenever any complaints were made concerning
his behaviour, he would chide, and sometimes beat him, but seldom
examined how far he really merited those effects rather of others
resentment than his own. Sometimes he would ask him questions on his
progress in learning, and praise or dispraise, as he found occasion;
but he never discoursed with him on any other topics, nor took any
pleasure in instructing him in such things as are not to be taught in
schools, but which much more contribute to enlarge the mind; so that
had not Natura's own curiosity led him to examine into the sources,
first causes, and motives of what he was obliged to read, he would
have reaped no other benefit from his Greek and Latin authors, than
meerly the knowledge of their language.

Here I cannot help taking notice, that whatever inconveniences it may
occasion, curiosity is one of the greatest advantages we receive from
nature; it is that indeed from which all our knowledge is
derived.--Were it not for this propensity in ourselves, the sun, the
moon, and all the darling constellations which adorn the hemisphere,
would roll above our heads in vain: contented to behold their shine,
and feel their warmth, but ignorant of their motion and influence on
all beneath, half that admiration due to the Divine Architect, would
lye dormant in us.--Did not curiosity excite us to examine into the
nature of vegetables, their amazing rise, their progress, their deaths
and resurrections in the seasons allotted for these alternatives, we
should enjoy the fruits of the earth indeed, but enjoy them only in
common with the animals that feed upon it, or perhaps with less relish
than they do, as it is agreed their organs of sensation have a greater
share of poignancy than ours.--What is it but _curiosity_ which
renders study either pleasing or profitable to us?--The facts we read
of would soon slip through the memory, or if they retained any place
in it, could be of little advantage, without being acquainted with the
motives which occasioned them. By _curiosity_ we _examine_, by
_examining_ we _compare_, and by _comparing_ we are alone enabled to
form a right _judg