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 _judgment_, whether of things or persons. We are told indeed of many jealousies, discontents, and quarrels, which have been occasioned by this passion, among those who might otherwise have lived in perfect harmony; and a man or woman, who has the character of being too inquisitive, is shunned as dangerous to society.--But what commendable quality is there that may not be perverted, or what _virtue_ whose extreme does not border on a _vice_?--Even _devotion_ itself should have its bounds, or it will launch into _bigotry_ and _enthusiasm_;--_love_, the most _generous_ and _gentle_ of all the passions, when ill-placed, or unprescribed, degenerates into the very _worst_;--_justice_ may be pursued till it becomes _cruelty_;--_emulation_ indulged till it grows up to _envy_;--_frugality_ to the most sordid _avarice_; and _courage_ to a brutal _rashness_;--and so I am ready to allow that _curiosity_, from whence all the _good_ in us originally arises, may also be productive of the _greatest mischiefs_, when not, like every other emotion of the soul, kept within its due limits, and suffered to exert itself only on warrantable objects.