which has from generation to generation been favourable to the progrefs of that true Liberty, which in ancient times thewed, and only fhewed, herself for a fhort period to the brave and ingenious nations of the fouth of Europe. Short was her influence in polished Athens, fhort in martial Rome. Invifible to the world for ages, during the baleful prevalence of general tyranny, fuperftition, and barbarity, the at last appeared upon the fhores of Britain; and finding the character and the genius of the people favourable to her great designs, here the fixed her abode, and developed her matchlefs plan. Here the feats a King upon the throne, whofe happinefs is centered in that of his fubjects; and one of the nobleft and moft illuftrious acts of whofe reign has been to render Judges, the difpenfers of the laws, perfectly independent of his will. Here the eftablishes the members of the Houfes of Parliament, loyal, enlightened, and magnanimous. The expreffion of their united will is equal law, juftice, toleration, fecurity, order, and happiness. The rulers and the people, both those who give, and those to whom this happiness is imparted, deferve it the more, as it is their ardent with and uniform endeavour to communicate the fame bleffings to others, which they enjoy themfelves. In whatever regions of the globe the British commerce flourishes, are alfo felt the happy effects of the British polity. From the bleak mountains of Scotland, to the funny fhores of Malabar, is diffused its benign influence; and no place attefts the power of Britain, which which does not equally witnefs the mildness of her government, and the excellence of her laws. And if more confiderations can be wanted to endear our country and its political institutions to us, they may arife from the recollection of the great and extraordinary events which have taken place fince the French revolution. Upon the Continent we have seen the Genius of innovation plying his deftructive work, overturning fome governments by open war, and undermining others by fecret plots. At home, we have witnessed the conflicts of party, and the confpiracies of faction; whilft our conftitution, as "rocks refift the billows and the sky," has remained firm and uninjured. The ftorms which have affaulted it, and the fhelter which it has afforded us, and all who have fought our fhores for protection, have ferved to prove its unalterable ftability, as well as its ineftimable value. The Youth of the British Empire will best show their conviction of these important truths by their perfevering obedience to the laws, and their prudent ufe of the bleffings conferred by their native country. But to defend this venerable edifice of liberty from the machinations of domeftic, and the affaults of foreign enemies, is a charge which devolves more immediately upon the nobility, and upon those who are deputed to reprefent their countrymen in parliament. The confcientious and careful exercise of this moft honourable truft is a duty duty which they owe to their ancestors, to themfelves, and to their defcendants; and what labour can be too unremitting, what vigilance too active, what public fpirit too exalted and ardent, to preserve unfullied and unimpaired a CONSTITUTION, which is the brightest ornament, the most glorious privilege, and the most valuable inheritance ever enjoyed by mankind? Hail facred Polity, by Freedom rear'd! Hail facred Freedom, when by law restrain'd! Beattie's Minstrel. END OF THE HISTORICAL CLASS. CLASS IT is a very great error for any one to suppose, that Logic confifts only in thofe formal debates and verbal difputations, in which the fchoolmen and their followers confumed fo much time in the dark ages, previous to the revival of claffical learning. It is equally a mistake to imagine, that it is merely intended to teach the method of difputing by rules, and to inftruct a young man to converfe, not from a love of truth, but a defire of victory. As there is nothing more difingenuous than fuch a conduct as this, nothing more unbecoming a rational being, than to oppofe fophiftry to good fense, and evasion to found argument, the logician difclaims this abuse of the principles of his art, and vindicates its rights by displaying its true and proper office. It is in reality capable of affording the most important affiftance to the understanding in its inquiries after truth; it is eminently useful in the common affairs of life, and renders the greatest service to fcience, learning, virtue, and religion. Logic is the art of forming correct ideas, and of deducing right inferences from them; or it may be faid to constitute the knowledge of the human mind, inasmuch as it traces the progrefs of all our information, from our firft and moft fimple conceptions of things, to thofe numerous conclufions, which refult from comparing them together. It teaches us in what order our thoughts fucceed each other, and it inftructs us in the relation, which fubfifts between our ideas, and the terms in which we exprefs them. It diftinguishes their different kinds, and points out their properties; difcovers the fources of our intellectual miftakes, and fhows how we may correct and prevent them. It dif plays thofe principles and rules, which we follow, although imperceptibly, whenever we think in a manner conformable to truth. The faculty of reafon is the pre-eminent quality, by which mankind are distinguished from all other animals but ftill we are far from finding that they poffefs it in the fame degree. There is indeed as great an inequality in this refpect in different perfons, as there is in their ftrength and agility of body. Nor ought this difproportion to be wholly afcribed to the original conftitution of the minds of men, or the difference of their natural endowments; for, if we take a furvey of the nations of the world, we fhall find that fome are immerfed in ignorance and barbarity, others enlightened by learning and fcience: and what is ftill more remarkable, the people of the fame nation have been VOL. II. in |