A Moral essay Upon the Soul of Man. In Three Parts. Done out of French

London, Printed for Henry Hills, jus. for H. Faitborne..., 1687. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo, 158 x 90 mms., pp. [xx], 447 [448 blank], with a later presentation note in pencil, contemporary calf; spine creased, with a split between pages 258 and 259. The French original has not been traced. The author, however, does not lack ambition and writes in the preface. "We believe that we have Discover'd the precious and inestimable Treasue of an entire Conviction of Religion an Morality, in the Incultivated and neglect Fieldof the Natural Knowledge of four Souls in the Attention and Reflection upon every ones Proper and Indubitable Sentiment; and we have believ'd that we ought to render the Discovery Publick." The author begins by distinguishing between "reason" and "reasoning" and proceeds to inquire about the reasoning of beasts. asserting, for example, "I confess, that if Beasts did what they do by a proper and true Knowledge, it were impossible to deny them the honor of Reasoning: For if Dogs Hunt by a true Knowlledge, and not by a simple blind Instinct, which pushes them towards their Prey, it is certain and evident that they Reason truly, when they way-lay a Hare, or when they set a Partridge. It is the same thing with Cats, Foxes, and all other Animals, of which such admirable Industries are related..." ESTC R214228 locates copies in BL, Durham Cathedral Library, Inverness Public Library, Bodleian, Queen's College Belfast, Ushaw College; Library of Congress, Clark, Iowa.