operations, is highly probable, if not fully certain ; and it will also be admitted, that wherever there exists an extreme degree of mental insensibility, whether it proceed from original constitution, or from an improper system of education, it may even be increased by an exclusive study of intellectual philosophy. But with these limitations, I cannot think that a science which directly leads us to contemplate the dignity and the grandeur of human nature-which affords us the most pleasing proofs of the wisdom and goodness of the Deity-which corrects and enlarges our views of moral obligations, and which refines the mind, and almost fixes its abode in unconfined regions of beauty and loveliness-that such a science should have any tendency to injure the finest, the most evanescent feelings of the heart, is a supposition which cannot be admitted. Should we not expect, on the other hand, that the gradual unfoldings of the world of mind, exhibiting the order and variety of its wonderful phenomena, would kindle into rapture the thoughts of one who is not quite insensible to the objects that are placed before him, and who is capable of receiving pleasure from whatever is beautiful or sublime in nature. Observation bears us out in the justness of this expectation; since three of the most eloquent men whom modern times have known,-men whose varied and extensive acquirements have done honour to the species, and whose memory will live through the revolutions of time, are distinguished as metaphysicians: I need scarcely say, that I allude to Burke, Stewart, and Brown. "It is the Philosophy of the Mind alone, which, by furnishing us with a general mass of the

field of human knowledge, can enable us to proceed with steadiness, and in an useful direction; and while it gratifies our curiosity, and animates our exertions, by exhibiting to us all the various bearings of our journey, can conduct us to those eminences from whence the eye may wander over the vast and unexplored regions of science."

CHAPTER II.

ON THE MORAL QUALIFICATIONS NECESSARY FOR PROSECUTING MORAL PHILOSOPHY.

THE nature of those qualifications requisite to the study of moral philosophy, as well as their vast importance to the lover of wisdom, are suggested to us by the history and the attainments of that immortal man who united in himself, to a degree unexampled by any other individual of the species, the sublimest genius and the profoundest humility. That which a living critic has said of Bacon, may with equal truth and justice be applied to Newton, who, with such fearless and persevering fortitude, followed the path which his illustrious predecessor had marked out: "he is probably a single instance of a mind, which, i philosophizing, always reaches the point of elevation whence the whole prospect is commanded, without ever rising to such a distance as to lose a distinct perception of every part of it. It is perhaps not less singular, that his philosophy should be founded at

once on disregard for the authority of men, and on reverence for the boundaries prescribed by nature to human inquiry; that he who thought so little of what man had done, hoped so highly of what he could do; that so daring an innovator in science should be so wholly exempt from the love of singularity or paradox; that the same man who renounced imaginary provinces in the empire of science, and withdrew its landmarks within the limits of experience, should also exhort posterity to push their conquests to its utmost verge, with a boldness which will be fully justified only by the discoveries of ages from which we are yet fa distant."

Newton possessed all the moral and physical qualifications requisite to the successful discovery of truth. To that humility which is characteristic of original genius, he united a boldness in speculation, and an intrepidity in the pursuit of his object, which rose from difficulty to difficulty, till they attempted and executed the measurement of the heavens. And it is to be recorded to the honour of this great man, that while the schools and the universities of Europe regarded him as an innovator, and branded his thoughts as wild and fanatical, he, as if regardless of the frown or applause of his cotemporaries, held on his godlike course, advancing from one discovery to another, till the tide of his fame bore down all opposition, and till the whole civilized world looked towards him as the first benefactor of the species.

Newton, and men of his high character and attainments, are the examples which we should propose to ourselves. Nor should we be deterred from copying

after such examples by the splendour of their acquirements, and the great distance at which we are placed from the elevated path in which they trode. There was a period when they also were subject to all the helplessness, and all the ignorance of infancy and childhood;-when they had to learn the first elements of human knowledge, when they had to surmount all the prejudices of sect and system, and of their own species, and rise over all the obstacles that opposed their progress to the possession, and to all the rational enjoyment of truth; and the result of their successful efforts affords their successors this ground of encouragement, that no difficulty can long stand in his way, who adds to his love of knowledge, patience in inquiry, and intrepidity in his perseverance. Sir William Jones remarks of himself, that he entered on his studies with this maxim deeply engraven on his mind, that whatever was attained by others was attainable by him, and that he found this conviction of great utility in keeping alive that ardour for learning which enabled him to accomplish all that he had ever begun. If another man was capable of acquiring this branch of knowledge, why, said he to himself, why may not I? This eminent individual had, no doubt, from nature, and from a favourable combination of circumstances, every advantage that could contribute to his rising above the standard of ordinary men; but without the continual influence on his active mind of the principle to which I have referred, he probably, notwithstanding his physical and moral strength, would have been known to posterity only as a respectable judge, and

not as the scholar of the greatest and most general acquirements of modern times.

The first moral qualification which I shall mention as useful in all our researches, more particularly in connexion with moral science, is a just estimate of our own attainments and capabilities. It is right, on the one hand, that we appreciate the high value and noble ends of the faculties which God has given us, that we may be excited to an assiduous improvement of them in a manner suitable to their worth, and to their proper objects: but, on the other hand, we should reflect, that while our mental capacity fits us for an indefinite progress, the measure of knowledge of which we are now in possession, or, indeed, can be in possession, while in this imperfect state, is extremely limited; and that the actual acquirements of the most accomplished philosopher, though great when contrasted with the ignorance of the multitude, are trivial when compared with those of higher intelligences, and even with those which he himself will make during that long and bright career of improvement that is yet before him. It is impossible thus to reflect without feeling, perhaps painfully, how little we really know, and how much we have yet to learn; or, without imbibing a portion of that humble and unassuming spirit which animated the illustrious men who have been honoured in handing the lights of science from their own to future ages.

The humility of true genius is proverbial; and perhaps one reason why persons thus gifted succeed in showing their great superiority to others is owing to their great humility. Sir Isaac Newton used to