[252] A fine passage in one of South's _Sermons_ was evidently suggested by the above chapter in Rabelais. "The World is maintained by Intercourse; and the whole Course of Nature is a great Exchange, in which one good Turn is and ought to be the stated Price of another. If you consider the Universe as one Body, you shall find Society and Conversation to supply the Office of the Blood and Spirits; and it is Gratitude that makes them circulate. Look over the whole Creation, and you shall see that the Band or Cement that holds together all the Parts of this great and glorious Fabric is Gratitude, or something like it: you may observe it in all the Elements, for does not the Air feed the Flame? and does not the Flame at the same time warm and enlighten the Air? Is not the Sea always sending forth, as well as taking in? And does not the Earth quit scores with all the Elements, in the noble Fruits and Productions that issue from it? And in all the Light and Influence that the Heavens bestow upon this lower World, though the lower World cannot equal their Benefaction, yet with a Kind of grateful Return, it reflects those Rays that it cannot recompense: so that there is some Return however, though there can be no Requital.... In short, Gratitude is the great Spring that sets all the Wheels of Nature agoing; and the whole Universe is supported by giving and returning, by Commerce and Commutation. And now, thou ungrateful Brute, thou Blemish to Mankind, and Reproach to thy Creation; what shall we say of thee, or to what shall we compare thee? For thou art an Exception from all the visible World; neither the Heavens above nor the Earth beneath afford anything like thee: and therefore, if thou wouldest find thy Parallel, go to Hell, which is both the Region and the Emblem of Ingratitude; for besides thyself, there is nothing but Hell that is always receiving and never restoring" (I. SERM. xi. "_Of the odious Sin of Ingratitude_"). [253] "Nec fratris radiis obnoxia surgere Luna" (Virg. _Georg._ i. 396) (F. W. S.). [254] _Influence_, much used as an astrological term. Cf. Milton: "Taught the fix'd their _influence_ malignant when to shower." _Par. Lost_, x. 662. "Bending one way their precious _influence_." _Hymn on the Nativity_, 71. (_Ibid._).