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The prejudices to which the last observation have their origin in, that disposition of our natur accommodates the order of our ideas, and our varic lectual habits, to whatever appearances have been But there a familiarly presented to the mind. prejudices, which, by being intimately associated essential principles of our constitution, or with th and universal laws of our belief, are incomparably m erate in their nature, and have a far more extens ence on human character and happiness.

III. The manner in which the association of i rates in producing this third class of our speculativ may be conceived, in part, from what was for concerning the superstitious observances, which a with the practice of medicine among rude nations the different circumstances which accompanied administration of a remedy, come to be considered tial to its future success, and are blended toget conceptions, without any discrimination of thei importance, so, whatever tenets and ceremonie been taught to connect with the religious creed of cy, become almost a part of our constitution, by dissolubly united with truths which are essential ness, and which we are led to reverence and to love best dispositions of the heart. The astonishment peasant feels, when he sees the rites of a religion from his own, is not less great than if he saw son breach of the moral duties, or some direct act of i God; nor is it easy for him to conceive, that there thing worthy in a mind which treats with indiffere awakens in his own breast all its best and sublimest "Is it possible," (says the old and expiring Bran of Marmontel's tales, to the young English officer saved the life of his daughter,) " is it possible, t

an attentive observer, that there are certain indelible features common to them all. In one situation, we find good men attached to a republican form of government; in another, to a monarchy; but in all situations, we find them devoted to the service of their country and of mankind, and disposed to regard, with reverence and love, the most abşurd and capricious institutions which custom has led them to connect with the order of society. The different appearances, therefore, which the political opinions and the political conduct of men exhibit, while they demonstrate to what a wonderful degree human nature may be influenced by situation and by early instruction, evince the existence of some common and original principles, which fit it for the political union, and illustrate the uniform operation of those laws of association, to which, in all the stages of society, it is equally subject.

Similar observations are applicable, and, indeed, in a still more striking degree, to the opinions of mankind on the important questions of religion and morality. The variety of systems which they have formed to themselves concern, ing these subjects, has often excited the ridicule of the sceptic and the libertine; but if, on the one hand, this variety shews the folly of bigotry, and the reasonableness of mutual indulgence, the curiosity which has led men in every situation to such speculations, and the influence which their conclusions, however absurd, have had on their character and their happiness, prove, no less clearly, on the other, that there must be some principles from which they all derive their origin; and invite the philosopher to ascer tain what are these original and immutable laws of the human mind.

"Examine" (says Mr. Hume) "the religious principles "which have prevailed in the world. You will scarcely "be persuaded, that they are any thing but sick men's

"dreams; or, perhaps, will regard them more as the play"some whimsies of monkeys in human shape, than the "serious, positive, dogmatical asseverations of a being, who "dignifies himself with the name of rational."" To

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oppose the torrent of scholastic religion by such feeble "maxims as these, that it is impossible for the same thing "to be and not to be; that the whole is greater than a part; "that two and three make five; is pretending to stop the ocean with a bulrush." But what is the inference to which we are led by these observations? Is it, (to use the words of this ingenious writer,) "that the whole is a riddle, "an ænigma, an inexplicable mystery; and that doubt, "uncertainty, and suspense, appear the only result of our "most accurate scrutiny concerning this subject?" Or should not rather the melancholy histories which he has exhibited of the follies and caprices of superstition, direct our attention to those sacred and indelible characters on the human mind, which all these perversions of reason are unable to obliterate; like that image of himself, which Phidias wished to perpetuate, by stamping it so deeply on the buckler of his Minerva; "ut nemo delere posset aut divel "lere, qui totam statuam non imminueret."* In truth, the more striking the contradictions, and the more ludicrous the ceremonies to which the pride of human reason has thus been reconciled, the stronger is our evidence that religion has a foundation in the nature of man. When the greatest, of modern philosophers declares, that "he would rather "believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, "and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without "mind;" he has expressed the same feeling, which, in all ages and nations, has led good men, unaccustomed to rea

Select Discourses by JOHN SMITH, p. 119. Cambridge, 1673.

+ LORD BACON, in his Essays.

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soning, to an implicit faith in the creed of their infancy;a feeling which affords an evidence of the existence of the Deity, incomparably more striking, than if, unmixed with errour and undebased by superstition, this most important of all principles had commanded the universal assent of mankind. Where are the other truths, in the whole circle of the sciences, which are so essential to human happiness, as to procure an easy access, not only for themselves, but for whatever opinions may happen to be blended with them? Where are the truths so venerable and commanding, as to impart their own sublimity to every trifling memorial which recals them to our remembrance; to bestow solemnity and elevation on every mode of expression by which they are conveyed; and which, in whatever scene they have habitually occupied the thoughts, consecrate every object which it presents to our senses, and the very ground we have been accustomed to tread? To attempt to weaken the authority of such impressions, by a detail of the endless variety of forms, which they derive from casual associations, is surely an employment unsuitable to the dignity of philosophy. To the vulgar, it may be amusing, in this, as in other instances, to indulge their wonder at what is new or uncommon; but to the philosopher it belongs to perceive, under all these various disguises, the workings of the same common nature; and in the superstitions of Egypt, no less than in the lofty visions of Plato, to recognise the existence of those moral ties which unite the heart of man to the Author of his being.

SECTION II.

Influence of the Association of Ideas on our Judgments in Matters of Taste.

THE very general observations which I am to make in this Section, do not presuppose any particular theory concerning the nature of Taste. It is sufficient for my purpose

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to remark, that Taste is not a simple and original faculty, but a power gradually formed by experience and observation. It implies, indeed, as its ground-work, a certain degree of natural sensibility; but it implies also the exercise of the judgment; and is the slow result of an attentive examination and comparison of the agreeable or disagreeable effects produced on the mind by external objects.

Such of my readers as are acquainted with "An Essay "on the Nature and principles of Taste," lately published by Mr. Alison, will not be surprised that I decline the discussion of a subject which he has treated with so much ingenuity and elegance.

The view which was formerly given of the process, by which the general laws of the material world are investigated, and which I endeavoured to illustrate by the state of medicine among rude nations, is strictly applicable to the history of Taste. That certain objects are fitted to give pleasure, and others disgust, to the mind, we know from experience alone; and it is impossible for us, by any reasoning a priori, to explain how the pleasure or the pain is produced. In the works of nature we find, in many instances, Beauty and Sublimity involved among circumstances, which are either indifferent, or which obstruct the general effect and it is only by a train of experiments, that we can separate those circumstances from the rest, and ascertain with what particular qualities the pleasing effect is connected. Accordingly, the inexperienced artist, when he copies Nature, will copy her servilely, that he may be certain of securing the pleasing effect; and the beauties of his performances will be encumbered with a number of superfluous or of disagreeable concomitants. Experience and observation alone can enable him to make this discrimination, to exhibit the principles of beauty pure and unadulterated, and to form a creation of his own, more faultless than ever fell under the observation of his senses.

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