2. A Letter to Ed. Clarke, Efq. on raifing the value of coin taken from a collection in the British Museum.

3. A Letter from Lord Shaftesbury to Dr. Fell, relative to Mr. Locke.

4. A Letter from Sir Peter King to Lord Shaftesbury, on the death of Mr. Locke.

5. A final tract in defence of Mr. Locke's opinion concerning Perfonal Identity: a point of fome confequence, but frequently misunderstood.

6. An Analysis of the Effay on Human understanding.This analyfis is printed on a fingle fheet, and fold feparately, for the convenience of those who are poffeffed of former editions.

Of our Editor's ftrictures on the works of this great philofopher, the following remarks on his Effay on the Human Underftanding, will give the reader a fufficient fpecimen.

"The Effay on the Human Understanding, the most distinguished of all his works, is to be confidered as a fyftem, at its first appearance abfolutely new, and directly oppofite to the notions and periuafions then established in the world. Now as it feldom happens, that the perfon who first fuggets a difcovery in any fcience is at the fame time folicitous, or perhaps qualified, to lay open all the confequences that follow from it; in fuch a work, much of courfe: is left to the reader, who must carefully apply the leading principles to many cafes and conclufions not there fpecified. To what else but a neglect of this application fhall we impute it, that there are still numbers amongst us, who profefs to pay the greatest deterence to Mr. Locke, and to be wellacquainted with his writings, and would perhaps take it ill to have this pretenfion questioned; yet appear either wholly unable, or unaccuftomed, to draw the natural confequence from any one of his principal pofitions. Why, for inftance, do we ftill continue fo unfettled in the first principles and foundation of morals? How came we not to perceive, that by the very fame arguments, which that great author ufed with so much fuccefs in extirpating innate ideas, he most effectually eradicated all innate or connate fenfes, instincts, &c. by not only leading us to conclude, that every fuch fenfe muft, in the very nature of ir, imply an object correfpondent to and of the fame ftanding with itfelf, to which it refers [as each relative implies its correlate] the real existence of which object he has confuted in every fhape; but alfo by fhewing, that for each moral propofition men actually want and may · demand a reafon or proof, deduced from another science, and founded

*We have been affured, that there are two MS. letters of Mr. Locke on this fubject amongft Bp. Gibfon's Papers in Lambeth Library; and that a large quantity of his letters is now in the poffeflion of an English gentleman at St. Peterburg. Rev.

Among thcfe might be pointed out certain profeffed monthly criticks: who abfurdly lavish the highett encomiums to writers an oppofite fides of the quctions, as if both could be in the right. Rev.

on

on natural good and evil; and confequently, where no fuch reafon can be affigned, these fame fenfes, or inftincts, with whatever titles decorated, whether itiled fympathetic or fedtimental, common or intuitive, ought to be looked upon as no more than mere Habits; under which familiar name their authority is foon discovered, and their effects accounted for.

"From the fame principles it may be collected, that all fuch pompous theories of morals, however feemingly diverfified, yet amount ultimately to the fame thing, being all built upon the fame false bottom of innate notions; and from the hiftory of this fcience we may fee, that they have received no manner of improvement (as indeed by the fuppofition of their innateness they become incapable of any) from the days of Plato to our own; but muft always take the main point, the ground of obligation, for granted: which is in truth the shortest and fafeft way of proceeding for fuch felt-taught philofophers, and faves a deal of trouble in feeking reafons for what they advance, where none are to be found. Mr. Locke went a far different way to work, at the very entrance on his Effay, pointing out the true origin of all our paffions and affections, i. e. fenfitive pleature and pain; and accordingly directing us to the proper principle and end of virtue, private happinefs, in each individual; as well as laying down the adequate rule and only folid ground of moral obligation, the Divine Will. From whence alfo it may well be concluded, that moral propofitions are equally capable of certainty, and that fuch certainty is equally reducible to strict demonstration here as in other fciences, fince they confift of the very fame kind of ideas, [viz. general abftract ones, the true and only ground of all general knowledge; provided always that the terms be once clearly fettled, in which lies the chief difficulty, and are conftantly applied (as furely they may be) with equal freadiness and precifion; which was undoubtedly Mr. Locke's meaning in that affertion of his which drew upon him fo many folicitations to fet about fuch a fyftematic demouttration of morals.

"In the fame plain and popular Introduction, when he has been proving that men think not always, [a pofition which, as he obferves, Letter to Molyneux, Aug. 4, 1696, was then admitted in a Commencement Act at Cambridge for probable, and which few there now a-days are found weak enough to question] how come we not to attend him through the genuine confequences of that proof? This would foon let us into the true nature of the human constitution, and enable us to determine whether thought, when every mode of it is fufpended, though but for an hour, can be deemed an effential property of our immaterial principle, or mind, and as fuch infeparable from fome imaginary fubftance, or fubftratum, [words, by the bye, fo far as they have a meaning, taken entirely from matter, and terminating in it] any more than motion, under its various modifications, can be judged effential to the body, or to a purely material fyftem. Of that fame fubftance or fubftratum, whether material or immaterial, Mr. Locke has farther fhewn us, that we can form but a very imperfect and confufed idea, if in truth we have any idea at all of it, though culom and an attachment to the established mode of philofophifing ftill prevails to fuch a degree that we fcarcely know how to proceed with

1

out it, and are apt to make as much noife with fuch logical terms and diftinctions, as the school-men used to do with their principle of individuation, fubftantial forms, &c. Whereas, if we could be perfuaded to quit every arbitrary hypothetis, and truft to fact and experience, a found fleep, any night, would yield fufficient fatisfaction in the present cafe; which thus may derive light even from the darkest parts of nature; and which will the more merit our regard, fince the fame point has been in fome measure confirmed to us by revelation, as our author has likewife fhewn in his Introduction to the Reasonablenefs of Christianity."

Certain it is, as our judicious Editor obferves, that Mr. Locke's Effay contains many refined fpeculations, which are daily gaining ground among thoughtful and intelligent perfons, notwithstanding the neglect, to which ftudies of this kind are frequently oppofed.It is to be remembered, however, that the thoughtful and intelligent are few in comparifon of that herd of readers, which, to ufe the jargon of the times, give the ton to fyftems of philofophy as well as to fafhions in drefs. How elfe, in the name of common-fenfe, could the nonfenfe of Reid, Ofwald, and Beattie, have, under that plaufible title, fo generally feized and infatuated the minds of the pretended philofophers of this philofophizing age!

Their fyftem is, to be fure, a very convenient one, and faves a world of thinking; making a Macaroni talk as wifely in half an hour as man of fenfe from the ftudy of half a century.

We are pleased to find our Editor an advocate for a more orthodox fyftem; although we cannot help fmiling that fuch a writer fhould be fo foolishly affected with the frivolous cuftoms of the times, as to reflect with indignation, on such a character as Mr. Locke's wanting a magnificent tomb-stone to perpetuate his memory.

“When we view, fays he, thofe very useful and important fubjects, which have been treated in fo able a manner by our author, and become fenfible of the numerous national obligations due to his memory on that account, with what indignation muft we behold the remains of that great and good man, lying under a méan mouldering tomb-ftone [which but too ftrictly verifies the predictions he had given of it, and its little tablet, as ipfa brevi peritura) in an obfcure country churchyard, by the fide of a forlorn wood-while fo many fuperb monnments are daily erected to perpetuate names and characters hardly worth preferving !"

For our own parts, we rather regard with pity the memory of thofe, who have nothing but fuperb monuments to tranfinit their names and characters to pofterity. What a pitiful inhe ritance is the perpetuity of a fplendid monument! What

mighty difference, between even a marble tomb-ftone and a 1 wooden grave-rail! Our Editor himself hath erected, in this publication, a more lafting and honourable monument; whofe tablet, though repeatedly effaced, may be as conftantly renewed with additional splendour,

W.

A Collection of Novels, felected and revised by Mrs. Griffith Vol. I. 35. Kearfly.

As there is no fpecies of writing fo ufelefs and dangerous t☛ young minds as a certain kind of novels, fo there is none perhaps more generally useful and inftructive than fome others. A felect collection, therefore, of fuch as are proper to put into the hands of the rifing generation, of both fexes, cannot fail of being acceptable to the public. But we can fay nothing, in recommendation of fuch an undertaking, more pertinent than the ingenious collector has faid in her preface; which we, therefore, take the liberty to quote.

"The extraordinary revolution which this nation happily experi enced, both in its religious and political principles, by the restoration of Charles the Second, naturally produced a change as striking, and as fudden, in the minds and manners of the people.

"Extremes of all kinds tend to promote their oppofites.-Hence, the bigotry of Fanaticifm became the fource of Irreligion; and the difguft arifing from a furfeit of puritanic zeal, drove weak minds into that chaos of licentioufnefs, mifcalled free-thinking. Mirth and wit, both which had been anathematized during the gloomy interregnum of Cromwell's ufurpation, broke forth, like light, with the returning fun of royalty. Exiled with the Monarch, they accompanied him home again; but, like him alfo, unreformed by chastisement, and untutored by adverfity. Sermons and homilies gave place to Shaftesbury's Characteristics; myftic hymns were exchanged for wanton fonnets; and the stately romance refigned its station in the female library, to the grofs effufions of amorous nonfenfe; which was, at that era, first introduced into these kingdoms, under the more modern title of Novels. "Decency and good fenfe, the natural characteristics of the Englith, though for a time inebriated with joy on the restoration of Religion, Liberty, and Law, at length fhook off the fafcinating slumber; "Then Shame regain'd the poft that Wit betray'd, "And Virtue call'd Oblivion to her aid."

Accordingly, most of the literary productions of thofe days, are now forgotten, with their authors; and the few that remain, particularly of the Novel kind, have long been profcribed to the Youth of GreatBritain, by every fenfible Parent and Preceptor.

"Yet all young minds require a certain iupply of entertainment, as well as the body of nutriment; both which, if not properly provided,

will anxioufly he fought after; and writings of the most dangerous ten dency, conveyed through the vehicle of an amuling or interesting story, like the most unwholefome viands, if rendered palatable, will be fwallowed with avidity, by the unformed tafte and unexperienced judge ment of our youth of both fexes.

"Prejudices, as well as difeafes, contracted in our early age, are always most difficult to be eradicated. They become our fecond na ture,

"Grow with our growth, and ftrengthen with our strength."

"An attention, therefore, to the amufements, as well as to the ftudies neceflary to the forming of young minds to virtue, is doubtles an indifpenfable duty, in thofe who are intrufted with the important province of education.

"To fuch, then, the Editor of the following Work more particu larly addreffes herself, whether diftinguifhed as Parents, Guardians, or Preceptors; and as the fole purpofe of this Compilation is to unite the utile dulci, by felecting fome of the beft Novels now extant, and fram ing them into a Collection, in which no writing tending towards immorality or indecency fhall obtain a place, the flatters herfelt that the publication of thefe Pieces will be favourably received by the Public.

"Upon this fubject may be fairly quoted the learned bishop Huet; who, in a letter addreffed to M. de Segrais, author of Zayde, and other works of the fame kind, fpeaking of Romances in general (the term Novel not having been then adopted into the French language), fays, "To which let me add, that nothing quickens the mind fo much, or "conduces more to the forming and finishing it, than good Romances. "They are a fort of filent inftructors, that take us up juft where the "Schools leave us, teaching us to think, fpeak, and live, after a method more edifying and perfuafive, than what is taught or practifed "there; and to which Horace's compliment upon the Iliad may be justly applied, That morality is more effectually recommended by them, than by all the precepts of the most able Philofophers."

"It is the intention of the Editor to carry this Work as far back as the origin of this fpecies of writing in England; which has already been remarked to have taken its rife in the reign of Charles the Second; and the progrefs which our language has made towards its prefent elegance, fince that era, will afford an amusing fpeculation to the critical Reader."

Almanach des Mufes.-The Almanack of the Mufes, for the Year 1777.

A mere Englishman, of the prefent refined tafte, if it be poffible for an Englishman to be refined without being frenchi hed, will be apt to fmile at this title, and wonder how long fince it is that the Mufes have been Almanack-makers. But, if they reflect on the Riders and the Moores, and particularly on the Gentlemen and Ladies Diaries, of our own country, they muft

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