Opening of the book
Original Title Page.
ТНЕ
FABLE OF THE BEES;
OR,
PRIVATE VICES PUBLIC ЗЕМЕТТА S:
WITH AN ESSAY ON
CHARITY AND CHARITY SCHOOLS,
AND A SEARCH INTO
THE NATURE OF SOCIETY:
ALSO,
A VINDICATION OF THE BOOK FROM
THE ASPERSIONS CONTAINED IN A
PRESENTMENT OF THE GRAND JURY
OF MIDDLESEX, AND AN ABUSIVE
LETTER TO LORD C——.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY T. OSTELL, AVE-MARIA
LANE, LONDON, AND MUNDELL AND SON,
EDINBURGH.
1806.
Edinburgh, printed by Mundell and Son.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
Page
Preface,
iii
The Grumbling Hive; or Knaves turn’d
Honest,
1
The Introduction,
12
An Inquiry into the Origin of Moral Virtue,
13
Remarks,
23
An Essay on Charity and Charity Schools,
155
A Search into the Nature of Society,
205
A Vindication of the Book, from the
Aspersions contained in a Presentment of
the Grand Jury of Middlesex, and an Abusive
Letter to Lord C——,
237
PART II.
Preface,
261
The First Dialogue,
279
The Second Dialogue,
302
The Third Dialogue,
331
The Fourth Dialogue,
366
The Fifth Dialogue,
400
The Sixth Dialogue,
451
PREFACE.
Laws and government are to the political bodies of civil
societies, what the vital spirits and life itself are to
the natural bodies of animated creatures; and as those
that study the anatomy of dead carcases may see, that the
chief organs and nicest springs more immediately required
to continue the motion of our machine, are not hard bones,
strong muscles and nerves, nor the smooth white skin, that
so beautifully covers them, but small trifling films, and
little pipes, that are either overlooked or else seem
inconsiderable to vulgar eyes; so they that examine into
the nature of man, abstract from art and education, may
observe, that what renders him a sociable animal, consists
not in his desire of company, good nature, pity,
affability, and other graces of a fair outside; but that
his vilest and most hateful qualities are the most
necessary accomplishments to fit him for the largest, and,
according to the world, the happiest and most flourishing
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