is confidently reported of Mermaids or Sea-Men.  There are some Brutes, that seem to have as much Knowledge and Reason, as some that are called Men; and the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms are so nearly join’d, that if you will take the lowest of one, and the highest of the other, there will scarce be perceived any great difference between them:  and so on till we come to the lowest and the most inorganical parts of Matter, we shall find every where that the several Species are linked together, and differ but in almost insensible degrees.  And when we consider the infinite Power and Wisdom of the Maker, we have reason to think that it is suitable to the magnificent Harmony of the Universe, and the great Design and infinite Goodness of the Architect, that the Species of Creatures should also, by gentle degrees, ascend upward from us towards his infinite Perfection, as we see they gradually descend from us downwards:  Which if it be probable, we have reason then to be persuaded, that there are far more Species of Creatures above us, than there are beneath; we being in degrees of Perfection much more remote from the infinite Being of God, than we are from the lowest State of Being, and that which approaches nearest to nothing.  And yet of all those distinct Species, we have no clear distinct Ideas. [3]

In this System of Being, there is no Creature so wonderful in its Nature, and which so much deserves our particular Attention, as Man, who fills up the middle Space between the Animal and Intellectual Nature, the visible and invisible World, and is that Link in the Chain of Beings, which has been often termed the nexus utriusque Mundi.  So that he who in one respect is associated with Angels and Arch-Angels, may look upon a Being of infinitei Perfection as his Father, and the highest Order of Spirits as his Brethren, may in another respect say to Corruption, thou art my Father, and to the Worm, thou art my Mother and my Sister. [4]

[Footnote 1:  Fontenelle, Entretiens sur la Pluralite des Mondes.  Troisieme Soir.]

[Footnote 2:  [Preceptive] and in first reprint.]

[Footnote 3:  Essay concerning Human Understanding, Bk.  III. ch. vi.  Sec. 12.]

[Footnote 4:  Job. xvii. 14.]

* * * * *

No. 520.  Monday, October 27, 1712.  Francham. [1]

  ’Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus
  Tant chari capitis!’

  Hor.

  Mr.  SPECTATOR,

’The just Value you have expressed for the Matrimonial State, is the Reason that I now venture to write to you, without Fear of being ridiculous; and confess to you, that though it is three Months since I lost a very agreeable Woman, who was my Wife, my Sorrow is still fresh; and I am often, in the midst of Company, upon any Circumstance that revives her Memory, with a Reflection what she would say or do on such an Occasion:  I say,