In those ages of the world, when man was young in the witcheries, and arts, of Society; and when he existed in the state in which the Gods had placed him; Hope reigned over all his thoughts and wishes, with undisputed and uninterrupted power: and, also, with an infallibility, which the beings of later ages know not. The celestial powers had made man a little below themselves; but they had given him hope, who supplied what was wanting, and made him equal to the deities. No deception, no disappointment attended her. Wherever she came, she made happiness; for wherever she came she promised better things, and her promises never came short of performance.

At first Man was contented. He found a world for him full of good things, and enjoyed them. But, his nature was formed to be progressive. His state was intended to be changeable, and each moment was to improve him. Though contented with the present, he felt an impulse urging him on to an improved future; and Hope sanctioned the feeling. Gifted with powers far surpassing those of any other created thing, Idleness would have been a crime: Already raised to such eminence by the powers above him, what else had he not reason to expect from them: The results therefore of his own exertions, and the favours of the Gods, lay before him; and only required time to make them his.

The constant employment of Hope, was, to show man those things which were to reward his exertions. She presented him with a view of futurity; which being always subordinate to existing means, had, in the distance, a prototype, the sure termination of a regular chain of causes and effects. She cheered Man, by bringing almost into his possession, the object, to the attainment of which his exertions were directed; and she only removed it to replace it by the reality. Constantly hovering before him, her glass made the distant thing seem near; the object before confused, and irregular, distinct, and defined. Man saw his path more clearly; he trod in it with more alacrity; and rested in success.