this great original thinker had not drawn from the fountains of Siloam, instead of Caftalis. Whereas the whole, which these ftudied collections prove to plain fenfe, perverted by no bias of falfe zeal or religious prepoffeffion, is, that reafon, or provident nature, has infcribed the fame legible characters of moral truth on all minds; and that the beauties of the moral, as natural world lie open to the view of all observers. This, if it were not too plain to need infifting upon, might be further fhewn from the fimilarity, which hath conftantly been observed in the law and moral of all states and countries; as well the uninformed, and far diftant regions of barbarifm, as those happier climates, on which, from the neighbourhood of their fituation, and the curiofity of inquiry, fome beams of this celestial light may be thought to have glanced. 3. For what concerns the clafs of ceconomical fentiments; or fuch prudential conclufions, as offer themselves on certain conjunctures of ordinary life, thefe, it is plain, depending very much on the free exercise of our reafoning powers, will be more variable and uncertain, than any other. When D 2 When the mind is at leifure to caft about and amuse itself with reflexions, which no characteristic quality dictates, or affection extorts, and which fpring from no preconceived fyftem of moral or religious opinions, a greater latitude of thinking is allowed; and confequently any remarkable correfpondency of fentiment affords more room for fufpicion of imitation. Yet, in any fuppofed combination of circumstances, one train of thought is, generally, moft obvious, and occurs fooneft to the understanding; and, it being the office of poetry to present the moft natural appearances, one cannot be much furprized to find a frequent coincidence of reflexion even here. The first page one opens in any writer will furnish examples. The duke in Measure for Measure, upon hearing fome petty flanders thrown out against himself, falls into this trite reflexion: No might nor greatness in mortality Can cenfure 'fcape: back-wounding calumny Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet, obferving the exceffive raptures of Romeo ΟΠ 1 on his marriage, gives way to a fentiment, naturally fuggefted by this circumftance: Thefe violent delights have violent ends, Now what is it, in prejudice to the ori ginality of these places, to alledge a hundred or a thousand paffages (for fo many it were, perhaps, not impoffible to accumulate) analogous to them in the ancient or modern poets? Could any reasonable critic mistake these genuine workings of the mind for inftances of imitation? In Cymbeline, the obfequies of Imogen are celebrated with a fong of triumph over the evils of human life, from which death deli vers us : Fear no more the heat o' th' fun, What a temptation this for the parallelift to fhew his reading! yet his incomparable editor obferves flightly upon it: "This is the topic of confolation, that na"ture dictates to all men on thefe occafions. "The fame farewell we have over the dead (6 body in Lucian; TEKNON AAION, ΟΥΚΕΤΙ ΔΙΨΗΣΕΙΣ, ΟΥΚΕΤΙ ΠΕΙΝΗΣΕΙΣ, " &c." ઠંડ When Valentine in the Twelfth-night reports the inconquerable grief of Olivia for the lofs of a brother, the duke obferves upon it, O! She that hath a heart of that fine frame That live in her ? It is ftrange, the critics have never accufed the poet of ftealing this fentiment from Terence, who makes Simo in the Andrian reafon on his fon's concern for Chryfis in the fame manner : Nonnunquam conlacrumabat: placuit tum id mihi. It were easy to multiply examples, but I spare the reader. Though nothing may feem, at firft fight, more inconftant, variable, and capricious, than the thought of man, yet he will eafily collect, that charac ter, ter, paffion, fyftem, or circumftance, can, each in its turn, by a fecret yet fure influence, bind its extravagant ftarts and fallies; and effect, at length, as neceffary à conformity in the representation of these internal movements, as of the vifible phaenomena of the natural world. A poor impoverished spirit, who has no fources of invention in himself, may be tempted to relieve his wants at the expence of his wealthier neighbour. But the fufpicion, of real ability, is childish. Common fenfe directs us, for the most part, to regard refemblances in great writers, not as the pilferings, or frugal acquifitions of needy art, but as the honeft fruits of genius, the free and liberal bounties of unenvying nature. ances. III. Having learned, from our own confcious reflexion, the fecret operations of reafon, character, and paffion, it now remains. to contemplate their effects in vifible appearFor nature is not more regular and confiftent with herself in touching the fine and hidden springs of humanity, than in ordering the outward and groffer movements. The thoughts and affections of men paint themselves on the countenance; ftand forth |