For supposing it possible to frame statues of such an admirable mechanism, that they coued move and act in obedience to the will; it is evident the possession of them would give pleasure and pride, but not to such a degree, as the same authority, when exerted over sensible and rational creatures, whose condition, being compared to our own, makes it seem more agreeable and honourable.

Comparison is in every case a sure method of augmenting our esteem of any thing.

A rich man feels the felicity of his condition better by opposing it to that of a beggar.

But there is a peculiar advantage in power, by the contrast, which is, in a manner, presented to us, betwixt ourselves and the person we command.

The comparison is obvious and natural: The imagination finds it in the very subject: The passage of the thought to its conception is smooth and easy.