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or contribute to the innocent amusement of my readers; whence what may be termed the decorative parts of literature will appear in pleasing and varied succession, thus alternately ministering to the highest and to the lowest of our intellectual pleasures.

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should feel as little exultation in re- ment for virtue, and objections to flecting that I had become in my out- vice; finally, to omit nothing (speakset an humble imitator, and had la- ing with a reference to the individual boured fruitlessly to embellish a road powers of man) which can either which my predecessors have already promote our moral happiness here, covered with a profusion of beauties! or future welfare in a world to There is a pride in the mind of man come. which makes him ambitious of dis- This I would wish to be the distintinction, and all distinction is founded guishing feature of my labours; and upon original excellence: whatever with it to mingle whatever can imcharge of imitation therefore may be prove the taste, enlarge the mind, urged against me in the progress of iny undertaking, I am at least resolved to make an auspicious commencement. But let it not therefore be supposed that because I have disclaimed all limitation, I have in fact no definite idea in my own mind of what I intend to do; I have traced The communication of knowledge an extensive outline, embracing many has generally been attended with more subjects, at once interesting, curious, or less difficulty, not always from the and important; but the colouring, inaptitude of the recipient, but somethe lights and shades, the smaller ob- times from its injudicious administrajects, and the diversification of scenery, tion. It is delicately observed by remain to be filled up, as accident Pope, that may direct, curiosity excite, or adven- • Men must be taught, as tho' you taught titious assistance may supply. man can trace with decided accuracy, And things unknown, propos'd as things the future operations of his own mind; they will often be irregular The fact is, pride, under some one where he expected correctness; often or other of its various modifications, incongruous where he looked for con- attends us all through life; and the gruity and order: sometimes dull, pride of knowledge is, perhaps of all when he imagined to pour forth strains others, the most independent. It is of eloquence, or corruscations of wit; not that men are unwilling to learn, and at others, discursive and rambling, but that they are averse from being when he awaited concentration of regarded as learners, for it silently ideas, and propriety of language. To implies a superiority which most limit this faculty would be ridiculous minds revolt at. In our endeavours,、 if possible; but its aerial combina- therefore, to facilitate the interchange tions despise the imaginary shackles of ideas, it is of obvious importance of man, and proves the divinity of its that we should employ those means origin, by its superiority over the which may be best calculated to proforms of matter and of life. duce the desired effect. Under this impression, I have adopted the form of an Essayist, that my lucubrations may neither offend the learned, who might expect unity or design, nor alarm those who would tremble to sit down to a laboured, connected, and extensive Ethical production; also to administer to that class of readers, who will thus be enabled to acquire a store of ideas with little trouble, and fit them to pass for men of thought amid the noisy conviviality of a club, the polite replies of an assembly, or the easy desultory conversation of a tea table.

While, therefore, I leave to the impulsions of chance, a great part of my future speculations, I have yet imposed one rule upon myself, which though I state it, I trust my readers would have given me a generous credit for, had it been omitted: it is, to make the improvement of life, and the diffusion of morality my first and greatest object; to inculcate whatever can arm the mind against the passions, or root out any unworthy sentiments which may prevail: to watch over the manners of my countrymen with a rigid severity, whenever they tend towards degeneracy; to furnish argu

Such are my views. If I have pro

mised too much, it is from an ambi- on a commoner by the election of tion to please; and should I fail in constituents. performing what I have promised, it will be from that want of ability for which no labour can compensate.

I propose to divide the consideration of this subject into three heads, which may also admit of subdivisions. The primary distinctions are first, as On the LIBERTY of SPEECH. it respects the Speaker of the ComThe best way to maintain liberty of mons; secondly, as it affects the speech in Parliament, is to make use Deliberations of the Members of that of it." LORD HAVERSHAM. House; and thirdly, as it refers to HIS discussion embraces one of various Public Associations.

Those points, which must be

To be Speaker of the Commons, confessed to be of the highest im is to sustain an office of real dignity. portance to a civilised and free go- He ought to be a person of great exvernment, but on which opinions perience and ability in the concerns will necessarily vary, and the eluci- of parliament; of unsuspected intedation of which is attended with many grity, of high public zeal, of firm difficulties. Liberty of speech, how- and even dispositions, of strict imever, being restricted to particular partiality, of conciliating manners, of situations, and to distinct associations a commanding address. He is the of men, is susceptible of some defi- representative of the representatives nition. Here, therefore, it essentially of the people; he is the voice of the differs from another principle of our nation; and, as such, he is invested political constitution. Unlike that with a freedom allotted to no other of debate, the freedom of the press subject. He may address to the seems limited only by the law of throne the sentiments of the country. libels, which unfortunately admits of He is empowered boldly to utter the so many evasions and exceptions, as language of reprehension, as well as in many cases to allow no salutary of congratulation.

and effectual prohibition.

He it is who can alone regulate Liberty of speech is among the the disputes of the senate, and from first requests made by the representa- whose decision there exists no aptives of this country to the king, on peal. the meeting of a new parliament. With all its privileges, there are This petition, which is preferred by several limitations to the freedom of the Speaker, as the mouth of the senatorial oratory. No allusion can Commons, begs,-" That the Com- be made to the king personally: no mons may, during their sitting, have transaction ought to be attributed to free Access to his Majesty: that they a representative nominally; may have Freedom of Speech in their should any irrelevant topics be needHouse, and may be Free from Ar- lessly introduced. Public affairs may rests." These requests are so usually otherwise be fairly discussed, canconceded, that I know of no instance vassed, and exposed.

nor

in which either of them has expe- Every man's dwelling being here rienced the least resistance on the deemed his castle, private opinion is part of the crown. They comprise, unfettered and uninfluenced by poindeed, the compact between the litical restrictions. Each person may people and the monarch. They are think what he pleases, and, in gethe essential and legitimate conditions neral, speak what he thinks. This by which both these branches of our universal emancipation of mind, pa-' constitution co-operate for the welfare of the whole.

radoxical as the position may seem, contributes at once to the independence of the individual and the security of the state.

But this petition, it should be observed, is on the behalf of the lower house of legislature only; the upper Unlimited expression of sentirnent, bouse consisting of peers of the realm, however, does not extend to subordi. who, in virtue of that dignity, are the nate meetings and popular societies. bereditary counsellors of the sove- Such confederacies have always been reign, and by birth entitled to those vigilantly scrutinised by the governfranchises, which must be conferred ing power, and have, at various

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tated.

erochas, been wisely subjected to provement of morality or Psycologie. those ordinances which the circum. It is most undoubtedly a thin; more stances of the times imperiously dic- curious than useful to know what modifications of our soul cannot aspire to the rank of an idea without associating with other modifications, the particular characters of which are denominated signs. But to the mutual advancement of all sciences there remains one question, whose solution is particularly interesting, and which ought in consequence to engross the mind of the philosopher. It is the following:

It is not our reproach, that liberty is undistinguishable from licentious ness. Submission, with us, is doubtless a proud submission," and one "which dignifies dependence," but still it is submission. Our very liberties are a species of gratuitous concessions. An indescribable delicacy pervades and animates the whole of our body politic. What were once matters of supreme right have become matters of grace; and what thus became matters of grace, are now become matters of right-acknowledged, yet unenforced.

We petition for liberty of speech, but we demand that our petition be granted!

Are there any means of correcting such signs as are inappropriate, and of rendering all sciences equally capable of demonstration?

Here is beyond dispute one of the most important questions possible to be offered to the meditation of the learned; and he who shall resolve it in such a manner as to produce the general suffrage of men of learning, may regard himself as highly meriting the universal esteem of mankind.+

Compared with these united kingdoms, therefore, even as to the fiberty of speech, there is no country in which authority and freedom are so admirably tempered. Our obedience is our choice. We know and Whoever has read polemical writappreciate our common advantages; ings, and made any progress in the but we are deeply sensible, at the art of analising ideas, will not for a same time, of the conduct by which moment doubt, that "in the scionly our privileges can be preserved, ences, which furnish eternal food for uninterrupted and unimpaired. We dispute, the difference of opinion appear to solicit favours which cannot does not necessarily proceed from the be denied; and by this system of inaccuracy of such signs as men are acting preserve that decorum without which polished communities lose all their dignity and much of their felicity. LEO.

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necessitated to adopt, in order to communicate their thoughts." This question, however, being rendered beyond the possibility of doubt, by the writings of our most celebrated metaphysicians, and above all by Condillac, we shall pass it over without any further consideration: but again-Is it possible to carry the human language to that degree of accuracy and precision, so that similar

stances should always present the

sciences of the National Institute, as a subject for the prize, namely, On the Influence of Signs in the for- This word is purely French. I mation of Ideas, has, as you well have retained it because I knew of no know, been the source of a multi- one word, in English, which was equiplicity of memoirs. But at a period valent to it. The French academy delike the present, nothing otherwise fine it "A Treatise on the Soul, or the could be expected, when all minds Science of the Soul." are unanimously directed towards speculative sciences. Yet, notwithstanding, I must confess, that I do not regard the solution of this question as in any degre every important to the im

On this subject I would refer my reader to Locke, who has employed three whole chapters on the imperfection and abuse of words. See Ess. Hum. Und, vol. 2. b. 3. chap. 9.

same sense to different persons em- one, and secondly, that it cannot be ploying them? I have ever consi- the work of a philosophic mind. But dered the solution of this question as what are those words in a language essentially connected with that of the which neither can nor ought to be detwo following: fined. Their number is perhaps infi"1. Is it possible to enumerate all nitely greater than would be ima the simple and indefinite ideas which gined. But the greatest difficulty in enter into the composition of a lan- determining this, consists in there be guage?" ing words regarded by certain authors 2. Were this enumeration made, as capable of definition, and rejected is it possible to assign the precise by others as altogether impossible; quantity of simple ideas of which each such are, for example, the words 'soul, word should be the collective sign?" space, curves,' &c.; but there are, neIt is evident that, if these two could vertheless, a great number of words be affirmatively replied to, the first which, in the opinion of every one, would be speedily decided. In fact, resist all kind of definition. These no one has ever contested the preci- are principally those words which insion and clearness of simple and in- dicate the general properties of bodies, definite ideas, such as are indicated as existence, thought, sensation, time, by the following words: red, blue, and many others. Hence, the first bitter, cold, hot, more, less, equal, object of the author of a dictionary of anterior, posterior, c. If then a language, is to form, as far as he is they are able to explain all the tech- able, an exact list of those words which nical terms of sciences by ideas si- may be regarded as the philosophical milar to those which I have cited, no roots of a language. But in this list of one will presume to deny that they original and primitive words there are will quickly exhaust the most fecund two errors to be avoided: 1. If too source of those disputes and divisions brief he will often experience the inwhich agitate the learned world. convenience of being necessitated to However, let us first see if it be pos- explain words which do not require sible to enumerate all the simple it; 2. If too prolix he may mistake for ideas which enter into the composi- two different words, what in fact ention of a language; and on this sub- close the same idea, &c.*

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ject I shall first present my reader with the sentiments of D'Alembert,

* It may perhaps be acceptable to where the nature of the question is the reader to present him here with very justly estimated: it is extracted the opinions of two celebrated men, from the Encyclopædie article dictionary.

who have briefly touched upon the above subject, namely, Burke and Johnson; and to begin with the former, who, in his "Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful," thus expresses himself:

"In a dictionary of a language, says our academic philosopher, there are three things to be principally considered: the signification of words, their use, &c. The signification of "When we define we seem in words are established by accurate defi- danger of circumscribing nature with nitions--the definitions ought to be in the bounds of our own notions, clear, precise, and as brief as possible which we often take up by hazard, or --but as the definition consists in embrace on trust, or form, out of a liexplaining one word by one or many mited and partial consideration of others, hence it ensues that there are the object before us, instead of exwords which ought never to be defined; tending our ideas to take in all that for suppose it otherwise, all the defini- nature comprehends according to her tions would present only a corrupt as- manner of combining. We are limitsemblage in which one word would be ed in our enquiry, by the strict laws explained by another, which ought to which we have subinitted at our setrather to serve as its own explanation. ting out. Hence it follows, that in the first Circa vilem patulumque mora place, a dictionary, in which every bimur orbem unde pudor proferre word, without exception, is defined, vetat aut operis lex.

must necessarily be far from a good UNIVERSAL MAG. VOL. VIII.

64

A definition may be very exact,

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On this piece of D'Alembert's I might, according to the exigence of have some few observations to offer. his labour, contract or lengthen its I agree with him, that it is impossible dimensions? The fact is, that to define all the words in a language, D'Alembert had either not sufficiently and that a project thus conceived extended his researches into this subwould argue but little philosophy in ject, or that the ideas which he conthe mind of its author; but with re- ceived of it were somewhat pergard to the great quantity of inde- plexed and confused. There are not, Buite words, which he apparently at- as in grammar, any philosophical tributes to languages, I am not alto- roots, whose number can never be gether of his opinion. The reasons established but by conjectures more on which I ground my dissent will or less probable. speedily be seen; in the mean time, root is, as it were, a fact familiar to A philosophical is it not surprising, that a mind so all those who know how to handle accurate should seemingly deliver up the instrument of analysis. We to arbitrary rules the arrangement of might as well call a philosophical the proposed list of philosophical root a word whose signification can roots, imagining that a lexicographer resolve itself; if then I am able to produce the number of simple ideas and yet go but a very little way towards or perceptions of the mind, which informing us of the nature of the have concurred in its formation, the thing defined; but let the virtue of a word would sooner or later be erased definition be what it will in the order from this list of roots; as were I to of things, it seems rather to follow pretend to exclude a word actually than precede our enquiry, of which it indefinite, the defect of my defini ought to be considered as the result." tions (which would merely be a reDr. Johnson, in his preface to his petition in different terms of the dictionary, has the following words: word defined) would quickly be per"That part of my work on which I ceived, and the word, spite of aught expect malignity most to fasten is could do, restored to that same list. the "Explanation," in which I can- Time, then, and the progress of uninot hope to satisfy those who are per- versal reason alone, can effect the haps not inclined to be pleased, since completion of an exact list of all the I have not always been able to satisfy philosophical roots of a language; myself. To interpret a language by and if I run the hazard of proposing itself is very difficult; many words one, it will be less as a model incannot be explained by synonimes, capable of being either enlarged or because the idea signified by them contracted, than as an essay by which has no more than one appellation; I would excite the attention of the nor by paraphrase, because simple learned towards an object, which ideas cannot be described. When evidently influences the perfection the nature of things is unknown, or of human reason, and consequently the notion unsettled or indefinite, and the happiness of society. various in various minds, the words I divide all the simple ideas, or as by which such notions are conveyed, D'Alembert calls them, all the phior such things denoted, will be am- losophical roots of a language into biguous and perplexed. And such is four kinds, positive, negative, absothe fate of hapless lexicography, that lute, and relative.

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not only darkness but light impedes Those ideas simply positive, and and distresses it: things may not only which are at the same time all of be too little, but too much known, to them absolute, or comprise the mobe happily illustrated. To explain difications of the soul, which are derequires the use of terms less abstruse nominated sensations, namely, cothan that which is to be explained, lours, smells, tastes, sounds, cold, and such terms cannot always be heat, also the ideas which we receive found; for as nothing can be proved from tangible bodies, as matter, rebut the supposing something intui- sistance, movement, and lastly, those tively known and evident without which we know by the force of some proof, so nothing can be defined but intuitive sense, such are the ideas of by the use of words too plain to admit strength, pain, and pleasure. I would a definition."-TRANS. wish to precede with some reflections

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