and principles of the great machine of nature. One would imagine, PHILO fays, that this grand production had not received the laft hand of the maker; fo little finished is every part, and fo coarse are the ftrokes with which it is executed.

On the concurrence, then, continues he, of these four circumftances does all, or the greatest part of natural evil depend. Were all living creatures incapable of pain, or were the world administered by particular volitions, evil never could have found access into the univerfe; and were animals endowed with a large ftock of powers and faculties, beyond what ftrict neceffity requires; or were the feveral Springs and principles of the universe fo accurately framed, as to preferve always the juft temperament and medium; there muft have been very little ill in comparison of what we feel at prefent. What then fhal! we pronounce on this occafion? Shail we fay, that thefe circumstances are not neceffary, and that they might easily have been altered in the contrivance of the univerfe? This decifion feems too prefumptuous for creatures, fo blind and ignorant. Let us be more modell in our conclufions. Let us allow, that, if the goodness of the Deity (I mean a goodness like the human) could be established on any tolerable reasons a priori, these phenomena, however untoward, would not be fufficient to fubvert that principle; but might easily, in fome unknown manner, be reconcilable to it. But let us fill affert, that as this goodness is not antecedently established, but must be inferred from the phenomena, there can be no grounds for fuch an inference, while there are fo many ills in the univerfe, and while thefe ills might fo easily have been remedied, as far as human understanding can be allowed to judge on fuch a fubject. I am fceptic enough to allow, that the bad appearances, notwithstanding all my reafonings, may be compatible with fuch attributes as you fuppofe: but furely they can never prove these attributes. Such a conclufion cannot refult from fcepticism; but must arise from the phenomena, and from our confidence in the reafonings, which we deduce from thefe phenomena.'

In regard to the influence of religious principles on the conduct of mankind, PHILO fays, it is certain from experience, that the smalleft grain of natural honefty and benevolence has more effect on men's conduct, than the most pompous views, fuggefted by theological theories and fyftems. And when we have to do with a man who makes a great profeffion of religion and devotion; this, we are told, has no other effect upon feveral, who pafs for prudent, than to put them on their guard, left they be cheated and deceived by him. He further fays, that the fteady attention alone to fo important an interest as that of eternal falvation, is apt to extinguish the benevolent affections, and beget a narrow, contracted selfishnefs; and that when such a temper is encouraged, it eafily eludes all the general precepts of charity and benevolence. In regard to the worship of the Deity, hear what he fays:

To know God, fays SENECA, is to worship him. All other wor hip is indeed abfurd, fuperftitious, and even impious. It degrades REV. Nov. 1779.

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him to the low condition of mankind, who are delighted with intreaty, folicitation, prefents, and flattery. Yet is this impiety the fmallett of which fuperftition is guilty. Commonly, it depreffes the Deity far below the condition of mankind; and reprefents him as a capricious demon, who exercises his power without reafon, and without humanity. And were that divine Being difpofed to be offended at the vices and follies of filly mortals, who are his own workmanfhip; ill would it furely fare with the votaries of most popular fupertitions. Nor would any of the human race merit his favour, but a very few, the philofophical theifts, who entertain, or rather indeed endeavour to entertain, fuirable notions of his divine perfections: as the only perfons, intitled to his compaffion and indulgence, would be the philofophical fceptics, a fect almott equally rare, who, from a natural diffidence of their own capacity, fofpend, or endeavour to fufpend, all judgment with regard to fuch fublime and fuch extraordinary fubjects.'

Such are the fentiments, fuch the doctrines contained in the Dialogues before us; and it is natural now, furely, to ask, what gratitude is due to Mr. Hume for this legacy to the public? If the principles which he has laboured with fo much zeal and earnestness to establish be true, the wicked are set free from every restraint but that of the laws; the virtuous are robbed of their most fubftantial comforts; every generous ardor of the human mind is damped; the world we live in is a fatherless world; we are chained down to a life full of wretchedness and mifery; and we have no hope beyond the grave.

Mr. Hume had been long floating on the boundlefs and pathlefs ocean of fcepticifm; it is natural, therefore, to imagine that, in the evening of his day, he would have been defirous of getting into fome peaceful harbour; of breathing a pure air; of viewing a clear and unclouded fky, free from those unwholesome mifts that hang over the gloomy regions of darkness and uncertainty; and of paffing through the closing scenes of life with tranquillity and pleafing hopes. But his love of paradox, his inordinate purfuit of literary fame, continued, whilst life continued; it is fcarce poffible, indeed, with the utmost ftretch of candour and charity, to affign any other motives for publishing what muft fhock the fenfe and virtue of his fellowmortals, or to reconcile it with the character of a good citizen, and a friend to mankind.

We know it will be faid, that Mr. Hume, notwithstanding his principles, was a very benevolent and a very amiable man; we know he was, and are as ready to allow him all the praise he is intitled to, on account of his good qualities, as the warmest of his admirers. But, furely, it cannot be inferred from this, that principles have little or no effect on human conduct. A man, who is naturally of a cool difpaffionate turn of mind; of a ftudious difpofition; whofe education, fortune, and other accidental

cidental circumstances, connect him with the upper ranks of life, may not only have fafhionable manners, be an agreeable companion, but may, by the mere force of natural temper, be a benevolent, good-humoured man, and act his part in life with great decency. But fuppofe that Mr. Hume's principles are let Joofe among mankind, and generally adopted, what will then be the confequence? Will thofe who think they are to die like brutes, ever act like men? Their language will be, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. When men are once led to believe that death puts a final period to their existence, and are fet free from the idea of their being accountable creatures, what is left to reftrain them from the gratification of their paffions but the authority of the laws? But the beft fyftem of laws that can be formed by human wisdom, is far from being fufficient to prevent many of thofe evils which break in upon the peace, order, and welfare of fociety. A man may be a cruel husband, a cruel father, a domeftic tyrant; he may feduce his neighbour's wife or his daughter, without having any thing to fear from the law; and if he takes pleasure in the gratification of his irregular appetites, is it to be fuppofed that he will not gratify them? What, indeed, is to reftrain him?

But we leave it to our Readers to purfue thefe reflexions,into which we were naturally led, and for which, we hope, we need make no apology.Mr. Hume's Dialogues cannot poffibly hurt any man of a philofophical turn, or, indeed, any man of common fenfe; and it is only the high reputation which the Author of them has fo juftly acquired by his other writings, and the influence of this reputation, that give them any claim to notice. They may ferve, indeed, to confirm the giddy, the profligate, and the unprincipled in their prejudices against religion and virtue, but must be defpifed by every man who has the smallest grain of seriousness and reflection. No virtuous father will ever recommend them to the perufal of his fon, ex-' cept in point of compofition; and every impartial judge muft pronounce them unworthy of a writer of fuch diftinguished abilities as Mr. HUME.

PAMPHILUS, a young man, who relates to HER MIPPUS the converfation which paffed between Cleanthes, Philo, and Demea, concludes the Dialogues in the following manner. * Upon a serious review of the whole, fays he, I cannot but think, that Philo's principles are more probable than Demea's; but that thofe of Cleanthes approach ftill nearer to the truth.'Our Readers will make their own comment upon this, and with them we leave it.

ART. IX. A Supplement to Dr. Swift's Works: Being a Collection of Mifcellanies in Profe and Verfe; by the Dean, Dr. Delaney, Dr. Sheridan, Mrs. Johnson, and others, his intimate Friends. Vol. I. with Notes, and an Index by the Editor. Large Svo. 6 s. Printed for Nichols, and fold by H. Payne, &c. 1779.

Tis the province of true wit to cultivate the barren and beautify the deformed. Nor doth it ftop here. Its plaftic hand forms worlds of its own, and moulds them into whatever shape it pleafeth. It commands the deep abyss of vacuity itself; -calls up new and unknown creations, and (as the firft Lord of this ideal empire beautifully expreffes it) gives to airy nothings a local habitation and a name.' Few writers have better illuftrated this remark than Swift. He was a man of native genius. His fancy was inexhauftible. His conceptions were lively and comprehenfive: and he had the peculiar felicity of conveying them in language equally correct, free, and perfpicuous. His penetration was as quick as intuition: and he was indeed the critic of nature. The high rank he holds in the republic of letters was owing, not to the indulgence of the times in which he wrote, but entirely to his own incontestable merit, Nothing could fupprefs his genius. Nothing could hinder the world's feeing it. The oppofition of an unrelenting party in church and state, and the perfonal enmity that was borne him by feveral of high rank and great influence, could not eclipfe the luftre of his name, nor fink in the smallest degree, that authority in literature which he claimed, and the world granted, as his right. By fuch oppofers, a genius of lefs force would have been totally crushed. But from him they were fhaken, "like dew-drops from a lion's mane."

As his genius was of the firft clafs, fo were fome of his virtues. He hath been accufed of avarice, but with the fame truth as he hath been accused of infidelity. In detached views, no man was more liable to be mistaken. Even his genius and good fenfe might be queftioned, if we were only to read fome To judge fairly, and pronounce paffages of his writings. justly of him, as a man, and as an author, we fhould examine the uniform tenor of his difpofition and conduct, and the general nature and defign of his productions. In the latter, he will appear great-and in the former, good-notwithstanding the puns and puerilities of the one, and the abfurdities and inconfiftencies of the other. We had before formed our opinion of Dean Swift. This Supplement to his works hath confirmed We have read it with particular fatisfaction: and though many things might have been omitted, yet, on the whole, we

it.

For a fhort account of the firit volume of this fupplemental collection, fee Review, vol. lv. p. 163.

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think it a curious and valuable repofitory of critical obfervations and biographical anecdotes.

The induftrious and ingenious Editor hath inferted several pieces in this collection, which, if not Swift's, bear so near a refemblance to his pen, that they were generally afcribed to him at the time of their first publication, or were at leaft fuppofed to have been written with his concurrence, and under his eye. The Narrative of the feveral Attempts which the Diffenters of Ireland have made for a Repeal of the Sacramental Teft,' bears ftrong internal marks of its author: Swift's hatred to the Dif fenters was indeed exceffive. Doubtlefs his indignation transported him too far in his invectives against them. But he could not disguise his fentiments: and when he conceived an averfion, he generally expreffed it in the most acrimonious terms. His perfonal and party prejudices made a capital part of his characteriftic infirmities. He confidered the Prefbyterians-especially in Ireland, as a very formidable fect: and he thought it his duty, as an avowed friend of the Church of England, to keep a ftrict eye over their meafures, and warn his friends, and the nation in general, of any inroads, which his jealoufy conceived they might at any time make, on the prerogatives and conftitution of the hierarchy. Of their abilities he entertained the most despicable opinion. But he thought they had a great deal of that low cunning which the wifeft are not at all times properly guarded againft. This idea was affociated in his mind, fo contantly with Prefbyterianifm, that he never could fpeak or write about it, or whatever had connection with it, without a mixture of indignation and contempt. The perfon who is pointed out by name in this narrative, as the chief hero of the diffenting intereft in Ireland, at the time when the pamphlet was written, was a celebrated preacher in Dublin, who diftinguished himself by a Treatife on Epifcopacy, and a difpute with Archbishop King. He was called Boyfe, and was the father of Samuel Boyle, the poet-of unfortunate memory!

This Supplement derives its chief value from the anecdotes which the Editor hath collected, to illuftrate the character and writings of Dean Swift, and to throw light on fome circumftances that would have remained obfcure without them. We fhall felect fome that may be deemed the most curious and entertaining-beginning with an anecdote of his filial piety.

His mother died in 1710, as appears by a memorandum in one of the account books, which Dr. Swift always made up yearly, and on each page entered minutely all his receipts and expences in every month, beginning his year from November 1. He obferved the fame method all his lifetime till his last illnefs. At the foot of that page, which includes his expences of the month of May, 1715, at the glebe houfe of Laracor, in the county of Meath, where he was then refident, are those remarkable words, which fhow, at the fame time, his filial piety, and the religious ufe which he thought it his

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