4 RUDIMENTS OF

evident: When men first felt the incle-
mencies of the seasons, it had its beginning,
and it has spread wherever the severities
of climate demand shelter or shade : we
trace it in the Indian's hut, and in the
Greenlander's cave ; which shew in those
barbarous parts of the globe, from what
mean original it rose to its present glory.
And perhaps the neighbourly assistance
required in erecting the meanest fence
against the inclemency of the weather, was
the first introduction of civil society: thus
a number of habitations were formed to-
gether, and men, in consequence, had
mutual conversation and intimacy. It is
easy to conceive, that, in this early state
of society, genius had expanded but little;
the first efforts were small, and the struc-
ture simple; perhaps no more than a num-
ber of trees leaning together at the top (in
the form of a cone), interwoven with twigs,
and plastered with mud, to exclude air,
and complete the work. In this early pe-
riod, we may suppose each desirous to
render his own habitation more convenient
than his neighbour's by improving on
what had been already done: thus in time,