PREJUDICE. ALTHOUGH error must in time be destroyed by knowledge, there are obstacles by which its progress ever has been, and more or less ever will be impeded; for it is so general, as almost to be a law of our nature, that "Man is tenacious in retaining his opinions." It matters not whether the opinion is well or ill founded, whether it is right or whether it is wrong, when once it is formed and rivetted in his mind, man will, if possible, retain it. This truth, although very general, is not universal, for there are men wholly devoid of this tenacity, who, the moment they discover that they have been adoring an idol, will dash it to pieces. There are such instances, but they are extremely rare. In the investigation of this position let us proceed according to the only certain mode of discovering any truth :-By Facts---By the opinions of Intelligence, our consuls to advise ;-and By Reason, the dictator to command. The peasants in a particular district in Italy loaded their panniers with vegetables on one side, and balanced the opposite pannier by filling it with stones; and when a traveller pointed out the advantage to be gained by loading both panniers with vegetables, he was answered, "that their forefathers, from time immemorial, had so prepared their produce for market; that they were very wise and good men, and that a stranger shewed very little understanding or decency who interfered in the established customs of a country."-Shan O'Neill is said to have put some of his followers to death because they endeavoured to introduce the use of bread after the English fashion.* From facts of this nature it appears that uneducated man is tenacious in retaining his opinions, but this tenacity is not confined to the uneducated, it extends to the philosopher. Linnæus came to England, with a letter of introduction from Boerhave to Sir Hans Sloane, which recommended him in the strongest terms, but neither he nor Dillerius shewed him such attention as might have been expected from those high testimonials. They looked upon him as a young innovator, who wished to overturn the old systems only to exalt his own name. Dillerius spoke of him as the young man "who confounds all botany," treating him with reserve and haughti Hume, v. 351. ness, until his discoveries were received by the most scientific men in this, and every other civilized country.---Hartley, in the preface to his celebrated work, says, "I was not aware that the doctrine of necessity followed from that of association for several years after I had begun my inquiries, nor did I admit it without the greatest reluctance.-Professor Leslie, in the preface to his valuable treatise on 66 Heat," says, "I have found myself compelled to relinquish some preconceived notions, but I have not abandoned them hastily, nor till after a warm and obstinate defence I was driven from every post."-Lord Grenville in the introduction to his tract, published in 1828, on the supposed advantages of the sinking fund, of which in early life he was a powerful advocate, says, "To that opinion I long adhered, and even now, after a lapse of more than forty years, I feel it still painful to renounce so flattering a persuasion, but the interests of truth," &c. Such are the struggles of a noble mind to discover that it has not erred in its researches; such its reluctance to see that its imagined intellectual wealth is real poverty, that the coin is counterfeit. From such facts it appears, that tenacity in retaining opinion is not confined to the uneducated; and it may perhaps be safely inferred, as a general law of our nature, "that man is tenacious in retaining his opinions." The opinions of philosophy are in accordance |