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While he was engaged in preparing for the prefs, a treatise compofed on this plan, Alexander Baxter, Efq; of Odiham, Hants, the worthy fon of the late Mr. Baxter, was pleased to put into his hands a collection of manufcripts upon the fame fubject, written, at different times, by his late father. This fortunate incident,' fays the Editor, has enabled me to profecute my defign, with a profpect of better fuccefs, by arranging and digefting his arguments into a form fomewhat more regular and conclufive than his last lingering illness had permitted him to do himfelf."

The intention of the late Mr. Baxter to publifh the papers which Dr. Duncan has here collected and methodifed, appears from the following paffage, contained in a letter annexed to the end of this work, written about fix weeks before his death (which happened in March 1750), and addreffed to John Wilkes, Efq.

"I own, if it had been the will of heaven, I would have gladly lived, till I had put in order the fecond part of the Inquiry, thewing the immortality of the human foul: but infinite wildom cannot be mistaken in calling me fooner. Our blindnefs makes us form wifhes. I have left feven or eight manufcript books, where all the materials I have been collecting, for near thirty years, are put down, without any order, in the book that came next to hand, in the place or circumftances I was in at the time. There are a great many mifcellaneous fubjects in philofophy, of a very serious nature, few of them ever confidered before, as I know of. But (as I hinted above) a fhort time of feparate existence, will make every good man look with pity on the deepest researches we make here, and which we are apt to be vain of."

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From the Editor's addrefs to the reader, it appears, that no part of thefe writings, except that which conftitutes the first fection of this performance, was efteemed fit for the public infpection, in its original form; and that throughout all the reft, it was found indifpenfably neceffary to caft anew many paffages, to lop redundancies in fome, and to fupply deficiencies in others. He elsewhere obferves, and with fome juftice, that the ftyle and manner, though retouched throughout, where it was moft requifite, may probably ftill appear to many readers rather uncouth and dry; and that to thefe, a lighter work, in a more fashionable garb, and lefs replete with folid fenfe, might have been more entertaining. It is unhappily,' he obferves, in that more acceptable form, that fuch readers commonly receive the poifon, against which the proper antidote is here administered without difguife, or fpecious colouring,'

After having given this history of the origin, &c. of the prefent publication, we fhall confine ourselves to the forming a

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fhort fummary of its contents; after premifing, that the arguments contained in it are not of the metaphyfical and abstracted kind, but are founded chiefly on obfervations more level to common apprehenfion, or which come home to men's bofoms. After proving the existence of a first cause, infinite in goodness, wifdom, and all other perfections, the Author proceeds to fhew that, if the human foul were mortal, our existence would be a thing without defign, irrelative, incomplete :'-that the immortality of the foul is indicated by the natural affections of man, or by the nature of his rational pleafures, and by that of the infinitely rational being who is the Author of the foul:that, on the fuppofition of the foul's mortality, many things confeffedly unreasonable to be practifed become reasonable, because confiftent with the prefent nature and constitution of man; and, on the other hand, the perfection and improvement of reafon becomes irrational, on the fame fuppofition:-that man, by the nature and conftitution of his body, and in every condition of life, is fufceptible of more pain than pleasure; and that therefore, on the hypothefis of the mortality of the foul, we are brought into being, to be inevitably miferable while we exift, and then fink back into nothing;a propofition that contradicts that fundamental truth, the existence of an infinitely good being that the fuppofition of the mortality of the foul is fubverfive of morality, or incompatible with the right rule of action and that the prepoffeffion that we fhall always exift, or always continue confcious of our exiftence, is infeparable from the conftitution of human nature; this belief influencing, more or lefs, the fentiments and actions of all men, even those not excepted who affect to maintain the negative *:

Thefe are the principal topics, delivered nearly in the Author's own language, that are, very copiously, difcuffed in this performance; which carries the moft convincing internal evidence of its being the production of the ingenious and worthy Author of the Enquiry into the Nature of the buman Soul; to which

On this head, the Editor takes notice of the remarkable inconfiftency between two paffages, extracted from a late work of a celebrated hiftorian." Several tribes have been discovered in America," lays the celebrated Dr. Robertson, "which have no idea whatever of a Supreme Being, and no rites of religious worship." [Hift. of America, B. IV. p. 381.] Let the reflecting reader compare this with the following paffage from the fame elegant writer, and judge of their confiftency. "We can trace this opinion (of the immortali, ty of the font) from one extremity of America to the other; in fome regions, more faint and obfcure, in others, more perfectly develop ed, but nowhere unknown. The most uncivilifed of its favage tribes do not apprehend death as the extinction of being. All hope for a future and more happy state."-Ibid. p. 387.

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the prefent publication forms an excellent, though perhaps rather too bulky an appendix.

ART. IX. Efays Moral and Literary. By the Rev. Mr. Knox, Master of Tunbridge School, and late Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford. Vol. II. Small 8vo. 3 s. 6 d. fewed. Dilly, 1779. T is, perhaps, a proof of his modefty, that this ingenious and agreeable writer has not afpired to an higher rank in the fcale of Authorship, than Effay-writing, in its prefent exhausted ftate, can poffibly raise him to. The first volume + of Effays moral and literary, displayed a juftnefs of thinking and an elegance of expreffion, which we wished to fee directed to the elucidation of fome particular and interefting fubject, instead of being scattered over many. To reclaim one acre from the wafte, and to bring it under cultivation, is of greater utility than to bestow the fame portion of toil on ninety and nine that are already manured by art and industry.—On fubjects that lie level to common obfervation (and to these the Effayift is chiefly confined), what is left us in this late age but to repeat what has been often repeated, and to exprefs that which has been expreffed a thousand times before? The fkill, indeed, of placing received truths in new lights, and of clothing them in fprightly and graceful language, implies a fecondary kind of merit which ought not to be undervalued. And this skill and this merit fome celebrated writings of the periodical form have aimed at and have attained but even here the hope of fuccefs is daily leffening; and with all the praife that is due to Mr. Knox's Effays, we may be allowed to fufpect, that had they been published periodically, i. e. SEPARATELY, they would have attracted no great fhare of the public notice. If, however, in the fecond volume of this Gentleman's detached performances, now before us, his readers be not much enlightened by any difcoveries of what is new, not much enlivened by any uncommon turns given to what is known, they may at leaft reap an innocent pleasure from the perufal of juft fentiments, clothed in polifhed language.

The fubjects difcuffed in this volume are the following: On Effay Writing. Claffical Education vindicated. Strictures on Modern Ethics. On the Retirement of a Country Town. On Epiftolary Writers. On the Happinefs of Domeftic Life. On the Merits of Cowley as a Poct. Letters the Source of Confolation, On Oriental Poetry, particularly that of Ifaiah. On the Principles of Converfation. On the Grave and Gay Philofophy. On the Pleasures of a Garden. The Story

+ For an account of Mr. Knox's first volume, see our Review, vol. viii. p. 136. The Author's name was not then printed with his work.

of, a Student. On Satire and Satirifts. On Preaching, and Sermon Writers. On Logic and Metaphyfics. On Latin Verfe as an Exercife at Schools. On Novel Reading. On Monumental Infcriptions. On the Character of Atticus. On Biography. On Hofpitality, and the little Civilities of Life. On the Merits of Illuftrious Birth. On Lord Chancellor Bacon. On the Profeffions. On Simplicity of Style in Profaic Compofition. On Affectation of the Character of Sportfmen. On fome of the Minor English Poets. On the Neceflity of Attention to Things as well as Books. On the Amusement of Mufic. On the choice of Books. On the Influence of Fashion. On Female Literature. On Parental Indulgence. On the ill Effects of proving by Argument Truths already admitted. On Affectation of Female Learning. On Speculative Criticifm, and on Genius. On the Superior Value of Solid Accomplishments. On the Propriety of adorning Life by some laudable Exertion.

Thefe Effays take in fo large a compafs of difcuffion, and the fubjects of them lie fo wide of each other, that it is no easy matter to ascertain their feparate merits, and utterly impoffible to enter into them with minutenefs. We fhall juft observe, that thofe of a moral caft evidently flow from a heart warmly attached to the interefts of fociety and the caufe of virtue. The fixth Effay, in particular, On the Happiness of domeftic Life," cannot fail of impreffing the Readers with an amiable prejudice in favour of its Author, and with a confequent belief that he is in private life what Pope defcribes Mr. Gay to have been,

"Of manners gentle, of affections mild,"

The fentiments contained in it are certainly not new; but can we expect novelty on this fubject? or would it be for the honour of human nature that novelty fhould be found on a theme like this?

In Effay VIII. we are prefented with a series of reflections which may ferve as a comment on an elegant paffage in the Preface to this volume. Mr. Knox there tells us, that in whatever manner his book fhall be received, he will not think the time loft that was fpent in compofing it, fince it was paffed at leaft innocently, and furnished a fweet relief in thofe moments of forrow which are occafionally the lot of all who feel and think, and from which he has not been exempted.' The arguments by which he proves Letters the Source of Confolation' will rea dily recommend themfelves to men of tafte and fenfibility. The fuperiority which the purfuits of literature enjoy over thofe of intereft or ambition, is a favourite topic with the fons of learning. In lavishing all their eloquence upon it, they fometimes forget that they make themselves judges in their own caufe; and that in the sentence they pronounce, pride and vanity will be suspected

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to have fome hare. Mr. Knox confines his obfervations to points in which there is lefs danger of this fufpicion, when he represents the influence that Letters' poffefs to footh the mind in the hour of dejection, and to lighten the burthen of diftrefs.

Under the title of Literary Effays we fuppofe Mr. Knox claffes his critical productions. The term literary has yet ac quired no appropriate fignification in our language. It is included in that of Effay. It is therefore equally defcriptive of every species of compofition, and characteristic of none.

In the province of criticifm, this Gentleman difcovers rather a correct and claffical tafte, than any fuperior degree of originality, or depth of penetration. His averfion to logic and metaphyfics (which the abuse of these ftudies may almoft justify in its excefs) is difcernible even here. Fearful of being abftrufe, he is too loofe and indeterminate in his remarks: in avoiding the charge of fubtilty, he gives into a languid ftyle of criticism and fpiritlefs obfervation, from which little improvement will be derived by those who are moderately tinctured with this fort of literature. The Effays on Preaching and Sermon Writers, and on the Choice of Books,' are too fuperficial and too futile to merit a place in this work. Thofe on Simplicity of Style' - on Epiftolary Writers' On fome of the Minor English Poets,' are elegant, but contain no very ftriking remarks. The Effay On Oriental Poetry is of an higher order; and exhibits a rich and flowing ftyle, at the fame time that it abounds with ingenious and folid obfervations.

The undiftinguishing cenfure which Mr. Knox paffes on the kindred ftudies of Logic and Metaphyfics,' and the heat and paffion with which he is carried away when he speaks of Modern Ethics, may incline fome of his Readers to fufpect that he is himself no very accurate reafoner, and that he does not understand very clearly what he condemns fo decifively. We hope too he is miftaken in the fact he alleges. He obferves with a fort of triumph, that even Malebranche and Locke, the most rational of the metaphyficians, are daily lofing ground. As a task they are at tended to in public feminaries, where fome obfolete plan of ftudy requires metaphyfical exercises; but the multitude of more agreeable works feldom leave time or inclination to the ftudent who is at liberty to chufe his books for the controverfy concerning innate ideas.'

We have too much refpect for Mr. Locke's writings not to regret that they are falling into neglect. If the fact be fo, we

* Mr. Knox is guilty of the fame inaccuracy when he talks of bu finefs civil or profeffional. With no propriety can profeffional be diftinguithed from civil, unless he means the profellion of the fword.' In this cafe civil or military would have been better.

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