"the age in which they lived did not always

86

I appreciate it as it ought, hath yet been rifing day by day in the esteem of pofterity, till time hath stampt a kind of sacredness upon it, which it would now be a literary impiety to blafpheme. There are fome amongst thofe, whom their advocate hath "named, I cannot speak or think of but "with a reverence only short of idolatry. "Not this nation only but all Europe hath "been enlightened by their labours: The great principle of nature, the very law

upon which the whole fyftem of the uni"verse moves and gravitates, hath been de

veloped and demonftrated by the pene"trating, I had almost faid the præterna"tural, powers of our immortal Newton. "The present race of philofophers can only "be confidered as his difciples; but they "are difciples who do honour to their ma

fter: If the principle of gravitation be the grand defideratum of philosophy, the dif"covery is with him, the application, in

ferences and advantages of that discovery "are with thofe who fucceed him; and can "we accufe the prefent age of being idle or “unable to avail themselves of the ground "he

"he gave them? Let me remind you that "our prefent folar fyftem is furnished with "more planets than Newton knew; that "our late obfervations upon the tranfit of "the planet Venus were decifive for the "proof and confirmation of his system : that "we have circumnavigated the globe again "and again; that we can boaft the re"fearches and difcoveries of a Captain "Cook, who, though he did not invent the compass, employed it as no man ever did, "and left a map behind him, compared to "which Sir Ifaac Newton's was a fheet of "nakedness and error: It is with gravita❝tion therefore as with the loadstone; their powers have been difcovered by our pre"deceffors, but we have put them to their "nobleft ufes.

"The venerable names of Bacon and "Locke were, if I mistake not, mentioned "in the fame clafs with Newton, and though "the learned gentleman could no doubt "have made his felection more numerous, I " doubt if he could have made it stronger, or more to the purpose of his own af "fertions.

"I have always regarded Bacon as the fa

"ther

"ther of philofophy in this country, yet it "is no breach of candour to observe, that "the darkness of the age, which he en

lightened, affords a favourable contraft to "fet off the fplendor of his talents: But do we, who applaud him, read him? Yet if "fuch is our veneration for times long fince

gone by, why do we not? The fact is, in"termediate writers have diffeminated his "original matter through more pleafing

66

vehicles, and we concur, whether com"mendably or not, to put his volumes upon "the fuperannuated lift, allowing him how"ever an unalienable compenfation upon "our praise, and referving to ourselves a

right of taking him from the shelf, when"ever we are difpofed to fink the merit of a

more recent author by a comparison with "him. I will not therefore disturb his ve"nerable duft, but turn without further

delay to the author of the Effay upon the "Human Understanding.

"This Effay, which profeffes to define every thing, as it arifes or paffes in the "mind, muft ultimately be compiled from "obfervations of it's author upon himself "and within himfelf: Before I compare "the

VOL. III.

N

"the merit of this work therefore with the "merit of any other man's work of our own "immediate times, I must compare what it "advances as general to mankind, with "what I perceive within my particular felf; "and upon this reference, fpeaking only for "an humble individual, I must own to my "shame, that my understanding and the "author's do by no means coincide either in "definitions or ideas. I may have reafon "to lament the inaccuracy or the fluggish"nefs of my own fenfes and perceptions, but "I cannot fubmit to any man's doctrine against their conviction: I will only fay "that Mr. Locke's metaphyfics are not my "metaphyfics, and, as it would be an ill "compliment to any, one of our contempo"raries to compare him with a writer, who "to me is unintelligible, fo will I hope it can "never be confidered as a reflection upon fo

great a name as Mr. Locke's, not to be "understood by fo infignificant a man as "myself."

"Well, fir," cried the fullen gentleman with a fneer, "I think you have con"trived to dispatch our philofophers; you

"have

"have now only a few obfcure poets to dis“miss in like manner, and you will have a "clear field for yourself and your friends."

No. LXXXIII

Ingeniis non ille favet plauditque fepultis, Noftra fed impugnat, nos noftraque lividus odit.

THE

(HORAT.)

HE farcaftic fpeech of the old Snarler, with which we concluded the last paper, being undeserved on the part of the person to whom it was applied, was very properly difregarded; and the clergyman proceeded as follows:

"The poets you have named will never "be mentioned by me but with a degree of "enthusiasm, which I should rather expect "to be accused of carrying to excefs, than "of erring in the oppofite extreme, had you "not put me on my guard against partiality,

by charging me with it beforehand. I "fhall therefore without further apology or preface begin with Shakespear, first "named

N 2