one great Reason of the constant Allegory in the ancient Writings.
We have frequent Examples, how much the firm Belief of any Sect makes Men speak and write in the approved Idiom: They introduce it into their Business, allude to it in their Pleasures, and abstain from it in no Part of Life; especially while the Doctrine flourishes, and appears in Bloom: For your Lordship knows, that these things, among the Ancients, had their Spring and Summer as well as natural Growths; and after a certain time, like a superannuated Plant, they turned scrubby and lifeless, were disregarded by degrees, and at last vanished.
What further Advantages Poetry might reap from a Religion so framed, will appear afterwards: Let us now consider the Manners of the Times; by which I mean the Professions and Studies that are in vogue, and bring most Honour to those that possess them in an eminent degree.
They likewise follow the Fortunes of a Nation: In the Progression abovementioned, the Arts of the greatest Use in Life, I mean those that supply our natural Wants, and secure our Persons and Properties, are the first that ennoble their Inventors; and in the process of time, when Wealth has made its Entrance, the Refiners of Pleasure, and Contrivers of Magnificence draw our attention.
