A Tritical Effay UPON THE Faculties of the Mind. August, 6. 1707. Το SIR, B EING fo great a Lover of Antiquities, it was reafonable to fuppofe you would be very much obliged with any thing that was new. I have been of late offended with many Writers of Effays and Moral Discourses, for running into State Topicks and Thread-bare Quotations, and not bandling their Subject fully and clofely: All which Errors I have carefully Avoided in the following Effay, which I have propofed as a Pattern for young Writers to imitate, the Thoughts and Obfervations being entirely new, the Quotations untaught by others, the Subject of mighty Importance, and treated with much Order and Perfpicuity; it has coft me a great deal of Time: and I defire you will accept and confider it as the utmost Effort of my Genius. A Tritical Effay, &c. P HILOSOPHERS fay, that Man is a Microcosm or little World, refembling in Miniature every part of the great: And, in my Opinion the Body Natural may be compared with the Body Politick: And if this be fo, how can the Epicureans Opinion be true, that the Univerfe was formed by a fortuitous Concourfe of Atoms, which I will no more believe, than that the accidental Jumbling of the Letters in the Alphabet would fall by chance into a moft ingenious and learned Treatife of Philofophy, Rifum teneatis amici, Hor. This falle Opinion must needs create many more; 'tis like an Error in the firft Concoction, which cannot be corrected in the fecond; the Foundation is weak, and whatever Superftructure you raise upon it muft of neceffity fall to the Ground. Thus Men are led from one Error to another, till with Ixion they embrace a Cloud inftead of Funo; or, like the Dog in the Fable, lofe the Subftance in gaping at the Shadow. For fuch Opinions cannot cohere; but like the Iron and Clay in the Toes of Nebuchadnezzar's Image, muft feparate and break in pieces. I have read in a certain Author, that Alexander wept, because he L3 had had no more Worlds to Conquer; which he need not have done, if the fortuitous Concourse of Atoms could create one; But this is an Opinion fitter for that many-headed Beast the Vulgar to entertain, than for fo Wife a Man as Epicurus; the Corrupt part of his Sect only borrowed his Name, as the Monkey did the Cat's Claw to draw the Chefnut out of the Fire. HOWEVER, the firft Step to the Cure is to know the Difeafe; and though Truth may be difficult to find, becaufe, as the Philofopher obferves, fhe lives in the bottom of a Well; yet we need not, like Blind Men grope in open Day-light. I hope, I may be allowed among fo many far more learned Men, to offer my Mite, fince a Stander by may fometimes perhaps fee more of the Game than he that plays it. But I do not think a Philofopher obliged to account for every Phænomenon in Nature, or Drown himfelf with Ariftotle for not being able to folve the Ebbing and Flowing of the Tide, in that fatal Sentence he pafs'd upon himself, Quia te mon capio, tu capies me.· WHEREIN he was at once the Judge and the Criminal, the Accufer and Executioner. Socrates on the other hand, who faid, he knew nothing, was pronounced by the Oracle to be the Wifest Man in the World. Bur, to return from this Digreffion, I think it as clear as any Demonftration in Euclid, that Nature does nothing in vain, if we were able to dive into her fecret Receffes, we fhould find that the smalleft Blade of Grafs, or moft contemptible Weed, has its particular Ufe, but fhe is chiefly admirable in her minutest Compofitions, the leaft and most contemptible Infect moft moft difcovers the Art of Nature, if I may fo call it tho Nature, which delights in Varie ty, will always triumph over Art: And as the Poet obferves, Naturam expellas furcâ licet, ufque recurret. Hor. BUT the various Opinions of Philofophers have fcattered through the World as many. Plagues of the Mind, as Pandora's Box did thofe of the Body, only with this difference, that they have not left Hope at the bottom. And if Truth be not fled with Aftrea, fhe is certainly as hidden as the Source of Nile, can be found only in Utopia. Not that I would reflect on thofe wife Sages, which would be a fort of In gratitude; and he that calls a Man Ungrateful, fums up all the Evil that a Man can be guilty of, Ingratum fi dixeris, omnia dicis. A But What I blame the Philofophers for (tho' fome may think it a Paradox) is chiefly their Pride; nothing less than an ipfe dixit, and you muft pin your Faith on their Sleeve. And tho' Diogenes lived in a Tub, there might be, for ought I know, as much Pride under his Rags, as in the fine fpun Garment of the Divine Plato. It is reported of this Diogenes, that when Alexander came to fee him, and promised to give him whatever he would afk; the Cynick only answered, Take not from me what thou canst not give me, but ftand from between me and the Light; which was almoft as extravagant as the Philofopher that flung his Money into the Sea, with this remarka ble Saying 7 How different was this Man from the Ufurer, who being told his Son would fpend all he had got, got, replied, He cannot take more Pleasure in Spending, than I did in Getting it. Thefe Men could fee the Faults of each other, but not their own; those they flung into the Bag behind; Non videmus id mantice qued in tergo eft. I may be perHaps cenfured for my free Opinions, by thofe carping Momus's, whom Authors worlhip as the Indians do the Devil, for Fear. They will endeavour to give my Reputation as many Wounds as the Man in the Almanack; but I value it noty and perhaps like Flies, they may buz fo often about the Candle, till they burn their Wings. They must pardon me, if I venture to give them this Advice, not to rail at what they cannot understand; it does but difcover that felf-tormenting Paffion of Envy, than which the greatest Tyrant never invented a more cruel Torment. Invidia Siculi non invenere Tyranni Juven. I must be fo bold, to tell my Criticks and Witlings, that they are no more Judges of this, than a Man that is born Blind can have any true Idea of Colours. I have always obferved that your empty Veffels found loudeft, I value their Lathes as little, as the Sea did when Xerxes whip'd it. The utmost favour a Man can expect from them is, that which Polyphemus promifed Ulyffes, that he would Devour him the laft: They think to fubdue a Writer, as Cafar did his Enemy, with a Veni, vidi, vici. fefs, I value the Opinion of the Judicious Few, ~s, or a Wh; but for the reft to give my Judgment at once, I think the long Difpute among the Philofophers a R I con about |