yielding to the force of an inferior operator; but could never hap pen, if the agent were omnipotent.' A confiderable part of this work is employed in refuting the modern philofophers, who fince the time that Locke and Newton ventured to differ from Ariftotle, have been corrupting the morals and understandings of men. His Lordship, throughout his whole performance, profeffes the utmost contempt for the Effay on the human Understanding. As to Sir Ifaac Newton he obferves, p. 271, Sir Ifaac, I doubt, in ancient times, while philofophy flourished, would not have been dignified with the name of a philofopher.' His Lordship does not condescend to anfwer particularly the blind followers of these blind guides; but he thinks his work furnishes principles fufficient to answer them all. He modeftly obferves (p. vii of the preface) that the ftyle of those authors, as well as their matter, is fo different from that of the authors I am accustomed to read, that I had not patience to read them with the attention which is neceffary to make a particular answer to them. Another reason is, that as my work is intended more for pofterity than the present age, I did not think proper to mix with it a controversy with authors, whofe writings, if I may venture to prophecy, will be quite forgotten in not many years, however they may flatter themfelves with not only the continuance, but the increase of their literary fame.' Among thofe innumerable infects of a day, Lord Monboddo fingles out one, and condefcends to deliver down to pofterity, in his immortal work, the perishing name of Mr. Hume, author of the English Hiftory, Effays, &c. which have gained reputation among certain perfons +.' His Lordship is not fatisfied with attacking the performances generally afcribed to that gentleman, but he ventures to afcribe to him fome anonymous productions, published fince Mr. Hume's death, and difavowed by his friends. Lord M. however, is convinced that they belong to him, not only from the impiety of the matter, but from the flyle, which is dry, inanimate, and without the least colouring of claffical elegance t.' We are not called upon to enter into this controverfy between Lord M. and the friends of the late Mr. Hume; but, we hope, it will not be imagined that we exceed the bounds of our province, by fuggefting that the known animofity which prevailed between Mr. Hume and Lord Monboddo may have rendered the latter too precipitate in venturing to afcribe to Mr. Hume, works which that gentleman never acknowledged, and which his friends difavow.-We may be permitted farther to fuggeft to my Lord, that he might Chap. iii. B. v. † P. v. preface. O 2 ↑ P. v. have have learned from the pious ancients¶ to refpect the afhes of a deceased adversary; and that it may be worth his while to confider whether the conquering of an unruly temper, and fubduing the paffions of refentment, envy, and malevolence, be not a better preparation for the world of fpirits than the moft profound ftudy of Ariftotle's metaphyfics *. We have too much refpect for the judgment of our Readers to trouble them with an examination of the principles of Sir Ifaac Newton's philofophy by an author who acknowledges that he knows nothing of mathematics but the bare elements +. It would be equally impertinent to obtrude on the Public the philofophical or religious fentiments of his Lordfhip, who, although he difcovers new arguments to fupport the mysterious doctrine of the Trinity in the jargon of ancient metaphyfics, contends ftrenuoufly for the abfurd and impious tenet of the eternity of the world t. We fhould wifh, however, to be able to entertain our Readers with fome of the peculiarities of a production which will be reckoned a very curious literary monument of the eighteenth century. But his Lordship's fingularities would afford no kind of amusement; and it happens unfortunately, that fuch of his difcoveries as are worth repeating, have already been explained at length by other writers who had the good fortune to agree with his Lordship. Thus he observes, p. 240, That Van Helmont' (and other chemical vifionaries of the dark ages) maintained that the celestial bodies were all animated. And I was furprifed to find among them, my notion, that there was in the microcosm man, a trinity of principles, correfponding to the Trinity in the great world. Thus, again, in fpeaking of the profound and modeft Cudworth, I was particularly pleafed that he agreed with me in what I have laid down as a fundamental principle, that body cannot move itself, and therefore what moves body, must be incorporeal §.' We have already taken notice, that the greatest part of his Lordship's work is employed in proving the truth of what he here lays down as a fundamental principle; a conduct familiar enough to metaphyficians, who frequently arrive, after a tedious circuit, at the precife point from which they fet out. This is poetically called, by Mr. Pope, prancing on metaphysic ground||; and is not unlike the difeafe defcribed by his Lordship under the name of the louping, that is the jumping, ague, which prevailed fome years ago near his Lordship's houte in the country. fhall infert the whole paflage, as the only new information that we have obtained from this very fingular performance : See Ancient Metaphyfics, paflim. * See the preface, + P. 253. Dunciad. 3 p. 9. P. 3 • We There was a phænomenon of the like kind, concerning which I had an opportunity of being very particularly and accurately informed. It was the cafe of a young girl, in the neighbourhood of my houfe in the country, who had a disease that is pretty well known in the country where I live, under the name of the luping, that is, the jumping ague; and which is no other than a kind of frenzy, which feizes the patients in their fleep, and makes them jump and run like perfons poffeffed. The girl was attacked by this dif ease three years ago, in the fpring, when he was about fixteen years of age, and it lafted fomething more than three months. The fit always feized her in the day-time, commonly about feven or eight o'clock in the morning, after fhe had been out of bed two or three hours. It began with a heaviness and drowsiness, which ended in fleep, at least what had the appearance of fleep, for her eyes were clofe hut. In this condition, the would leap up upon ftools and tables, with furprising agility; then he would get out of the cottage, where the lived with her father, mother, and brother, and run with great violence, and much faster than the could do when well, but always with a certain deftination to fome one place in the neighbourhood; and to which place fhe often faid, when the found the fit coming upon her, that she was to go; and, after she had gone to the place of her deftination, if she did not there awake, the came back with the fame certain direction, though he did not always keep the high road, but frequently went a nearer way across the fields; and though her road, for this reafon, was often very rough, she never fell, notwithstanding the violence with which the ran. But ail the while fhe ran, her eyes were quite fhut, as her brother attefts, who often ran with her to take care of her, and who, though he was much older, ftronger, and cleverer, than fhe, was hardly able to keep up with her. When fhe told, before the fit came on, to what place fhe was to run, the faid the dreamed the night before, that he was to run to that place; and, though they fometimes diffuaded her from going to a particular place, as to my house, for example, where they faid the dogs would bite her, fhe faid fhe would. run that way, and no other. When the awaked, and came out of her delirium, fhe found herself extremely weak; but foon recovered her ftrength, and was nothing the worse for it, but, on the contrary, was much the worfe for being restrained from running. When the awaked, and came to herself, he had not the least remembrance of what had paffed while fhe was afleep. Sometimes he would run upon the top of the earthen fence which furrounded her father's little garden; and, though the fence was of an irregular figure, and very narrow at top, yet the never fell from it, nor from the top of the house, upon which the would fometimes get by the affiftance of this fence, though her eyes were then likewife hut. Some time before the diforder left her, the dreamed, as fhe faid, that the water of a well in the neighbourhood, called the driping well, would cure her; and, accordingly, the drank of it very plentifully, both when fhe was well, and when he was ill. Once, when fhe was ill, fhe expreffed, by figns, a violent defire to drink of it (for the did not, while in the fit, fpeak fo as to be intelligible), and they having brought her other water, he would not let it come near her, but re O 3 jected jected it with figns of great averfion; but, when they brought her the water of this well, he drank it greedily, her eyes being all the while fhut. Before her last fit came upon her, the faid she had juft three leaps to make, and he would neither leap nor run more. And accordingly, having fallen afleep, as ufual, fhe leaped up upon the ftone at the back of the chimney, and down again; and having done this three times, fhe kept her word, and never leaped or run more. She is now in perfect health. • This account I had from the father, mother, and brother, whom I examined feparately and together, and likewife from the girl herfelf, fo far as the remembered; for, as I have faid, fhe had no memory of what paffed while fhe was in the fit; but the remembered very well every thing that happened when the was not, and particularly her dreams. And he told me, that the flept very well at night, had a good ftomach, and was in every refpect well till the fit feized her. It began, she says, at her feet, and, like a coldness or numbness, crept upwards and upwards, till it came to her heart; after which he had no more fenfe or feeling of the condition she was in.' From this and the other paffages which we have cited, the Reader will be enabled to form a judgment of his Lordship's ftyle, which cannot be more juftly characterifed than by the fame epithets which his Lordship beftows on that of the admired author of the English History, dry, inanimate, and without the leaft colouring of claffical elegance.' After declaring our fentiments with equal fincerity and freedom concerning the demerit of his Lordship's performance, juftice obliges us to obferve, that we approve of the admiration and enthusiasm which he every where difcovers for the Grecian language and literature. The Greeks, doubtless, are our mafters in almoft every art that is either elegant or useful. Their works of poetry and eloquence are still unrivalled; but their philofophical difquifitions, whether concerning mind or body, have been greatly improved by the labour and ingenuity of fucceeding ages. Lord M. however, is unwilling to make any fuch diftinction; and his admiration of ancient metaphyfics (which we confider as the leaft valuable part of Grecian fcience), degenerating into extravagance and abfurdity, there is danger that he may hurt the cause which he means to defend. In proof of this obfervation we shall cite a paffage, which it is fcarcely poffible to believe fhould have been written in a country enlightened by the difcoveries of modern philofophy: What I have faid in the preceding chapter concerning the connection of the prædicate or attribute with the fubject, in propofitions of which both the terms are general, is not to be understood by a reader who does not know the difference betwixt Senfe and Intellect, Generals and Particulars, Genus and Species, Accident and Subftance; for (I must repeat it again, though I should give of. fence) fence) let a man flatter himself as much as he will, and think as highly as he pleases of his genius and natural parts, I will use the freedom to tell him, that, without the knowledge of thefe firit principles of logic, he never can understand, as a philofopher ought to understand, the philofophy of Mind, and the nature of Truth and Science. These principles are to be learned from Ariftotle's book of Categories, with the affiftance of Porphyry's Introduction to that book, and of Ammonius's Commentary upon both the introduction and the book itself. There are, I doubt not, fome French or Englith fyftems of logic which may be of ufe to the reader; but with these I am not much acquainted, nor defire to be more, because I chufe to go to the fource itself, being well affured, from what I know of them, that, if they have not drawn from that fource, they have produced nothing that is valuable upon the subject. Not that I believe it to be abfolutely impoffible, even as men are educated and live at prefent, that our times fhould produce a great genius in philofophy; but I fay, that genius muft be taught, and by good masters; and, that it is impoffible, without fuch affiftance, for any mortal man to invent a whole fyftem of fcience. I think I may say, without offence to any modern philofopher, that Ariftotle had as acute and inventive a genius in philofophy as any of them; yet, I will venture to affirm, that, unless he had been taught, as he was, both by Socrates and Plato, and, unless he had ftudied diligently, as it appears he did, the writings of the more ancient philofophers of the Tonic and Eleatic school, and of a greater school than either of these, I mean the Pythagorean, from which he took his book of Categories, the foundation of his whole fyftem, he never could have difcovered the Syllogifm (if it be true that it is his discovery), nor produced that compleat fyftem of logic to be found in his book of Categories, his firit and fecond Analytics, his Topics, and his treatise of Sophifm, to which the labours of all the ages fince his time have added nothing confiderable. Before him, many philofophers, ne doubt, reafoned very well, and made great difcoveries; but they reasoned as the women and children fpoke; for, though women and children, who have been well educated, may speak very well, they do it by mere habit, without being able to give any account how they do it; the reason of which is, that they cannot analyse language into its elements, nor account how these elements are compofed into fpeech; for analyfis is the work of art or science. In the fame manner, the philofophers before Ariftorie could reafon very well; but, as they could not analyse reason, so they could not give any rational account why one argument was conclufive, and another inconclufive; but they knew them to be fo only by common sense, that is, natural fenfe, not inftructed by science.' We confider the above, and such like paffages, of which the prefent work is principally compofed, as a grofs infult offered to the difcernment of the prefent age. It is to fuppofe that God Almighty made men with legs and arms, but that Ariftotle made them reasonable creatures. We are so far from thinking that the works which our Author afcribes to Aristotle (several of which, however, are probably the productions of very infe 04 rior |