Page:The Effects of Civilisation on the People in European States.djvu/72

50 is to join two things together which are opposite in their natures, and destructive of each other,

"If you should see," says Dr. Paley, "a flock of pigeons in a field of corn; and if (instead of each pecking where and what it liked, taking just as much as it wanted and no more) you should see ninety-nine out of a hundred gathering all they got into an heap, reserving nothing for themselves but the chaff and refuse; keeping this heap for one, and that the weakest, perhaps, and worst pigeon of the flock; setting round and looking on all the winter, whilst this one was devouring, throwing about, and wasting it; and if a pigeon, more hardy and hungry than the rest, touched a grain of the hoard, all the others instantly flying upon it and tearing it to pieces,—if you should see this, you would see nothing more than what is every day practised and established among men. Among men, you see the ninety and nine toiling and scraping together an heap of superfluities for one; getting nothing for themselves, all the while, but a little of the coarsest of the provision which their own labour produces; and this one, too, oftentimes the feeblest and worst of the whole set—a child, a madman, or a fool; looking quietly on, while they see the fruits of their labour spent or spoiled; and if any one of them take or touch a