It is too evident that our philosopher felt it a light matter, that his speculations were sometimes in opposition to the book which Christians deem of paramount authority. He would pretend, in a general way, a kind of deference for that book, and yet go on with his theories and reasonings all the same. In this we consider his conduct, and the conduct of many other philosophic men, as most absurd, setting aside its irreligion. The book which avows itself, by a thousand solemn and explicit declarations, to be a communication from heaven, is either what it thus declares itself to be, or a most monstrous imposture. If these philosophers hold it to be an imposture, and therefore an execrable deception put on the sense of mankind, how contemptible it is to see them practising their civil cringe, and uttering phrases of deference! If they admit it to be what it avows itself, how detestable is their conduct in advancing positions and theories, with a cool disregard of the highest authority, confronting and contradicting them all the while! And if the question is deemed to be yet in suspense, how ridiculous it is to be thus building up speculations and systems, pending a cause which may require their demolition the instant it is decided! Who would not despise, or pity, a man eagerly raising a fine house on a piece of ground at the very time in doubtful litigation? Who would not have laughed at a man, who should have published a book of geography, with minute descriptions and costly maps, of distant regions and islands, at the very time that Magellan or Cook was absent on purpose to determine their position, or even verify their existence? If Lord Kames was doubtful on the question of the truth or imposture of the most celebrated book in the world, a question of which the decision, the one way or the other, is the indispensable preliminary to so many speculations, why did he not bend his utmost strength to decide it? This had been a work of far more importance than any of those to which he applied himself: of far more importance than his reasonings on the existence of a Deity; since the very object of these reasonings was to prove, that we have a natural, intuitive, and invincible assurance, that there is a God, and therefore, in fact, that we need no reasoning or writing on the subject. Or if he would not make an effort toward the decision of this great question himself, why should he not lie quiet till the other examiners should decide it; cautious, even to anxiety, not to hazard, in the mean while, a single position of such a nature as must

assume that the question was already decided, and decided against the pretensions of the book professing to be of Divine authority? But such positions he made no difficulty of advancing, especially in what was called, at that time, his magnum opus, the "Sketches of the History of Man."

The leading doctrine of this work appears to be, that man was originally in the state of a most ignorant savage, and that all his knowledge and improvements, subsequently attained, as well in morals and theology, as in arts and sciences, have resulted from the progressive development of his natural powers by natural means: in this same work, notwithstanding, the author affected to pay some deference to the Mosaic history. This idle and irreligious notion was retained and cherished, in spite of the able reasoning of Dr. Doig, of which Lord Woodhouselee gives a lucid abstract, followed by a curious account of the commencement of the acquaintance between Dr. Doig and Lord Kames.

The other distinguished literary performance of Lord Kames, was the "Elements of Criticism." The biographer introduces his remarks on this work, by a very curious inquiry into the history of philosophical criticism, the invention of which he attributes to the Scottish philosopher, after an acute examination of the claims of both the ancients and moderns. We are very much entertained by this ingenious investigation; though Lord Woodhouselee's own acknowledgment of the near approaches to this species of criticism in one or two of the ancients, and the actual, though very imperfect, development of it in several modern writers, especially Akenside, warrants our hesitation to assign to Lord Kames the title of inventor which is wrested, by a rather nice distinction, from Aristotle. In the "Treatise of Rhetoric," Aristotle gave an elaborate analysis of the passions, and of the sources of pain and pleasure, expressly with a view to instruct writers and speakers how to interest those passions. If this was not actually deducing, it was making it easy for the persons so instructed to deduce, from the very constitution of the human mind, the essential laws of good writing and eloquent speaking. It was showing that excellence in these arts must consist, in the adaptation of all their performances to the principles of human nature. By thus illustrating the manner in which the human mind can be subjected to the powers of eloquence, Aristotle laid at least the foundation of philosophical criticism. It is true that this could

not so strictly be called criticism till it should be carried a little further, till a number of precise inferences from this explication of the passions should be propounded, as laws of criticism, and these laws be formally applied to the productions of genius. But this was nearly a matter of course when the first great work of elucidating the passions was accomplished; when the nature of the materials was ascertained, it dictated at once the mode of operating on them. By a very slight change of form, each proposition, relative to the passions, might have been made a critical rule, applicable to its respective part of the works to be addressed to them. This had been a very slender effort for the great philosopher, if he had chosen to pursue his subject so far; and therefore it does not claim any very high degree of fame, if a modern has done what he omitted. We allow, however, to Lord Kames, the "merit of having given to philosophical criticism the form of a science, by reducing it to general principles, methodizing its doctrines, and supporting them everywhere by the most copious and beautiful illustrations."

VIII.

DEFENCE OF THE STAGE.

Four Discourses on Subjects relating to the Amusement of the Stage. Preached at Great St. Mary's Church, Cambridge, on Sunday, September 25, and Sunday, October 2, 1808; with copious Supplementary Notes. By JAMES PLUMPTRE B.D., Fellow of Clare-Hall.

It is not expressed in the title-page, that these discourses were preached, and are published, with an intention hostile to the stage; but the reader can have no doubt as to this point, we presume, when informed that they are dedicated to the ViceChancellor of the University of Cambridge after having received his approbation, that the author is an admirer of some of our most serious and orthodox divines, that he appears to be actuated by a sincere wish to do good, and that the discourses are founded on no other than the following texts :-" Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."—" Be not deceived, evil communications corrupt good manners.". "Let not foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, be once named among you, as becometh saints."—"To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." A selection of texts so pointedly applicable, will appear to indicate the preacher's correct view of his subject; and shall we not incur the suspicion of wantonly offending against the third injunction, when we state, that, notwithstanding all these reasons for a contrary presumption, Mr. Plumptre's discourses are meant as a formal defence of the stage?

Merely that a minister of the Christian religion should have considered it as within the scope and duty of his sacred function to undertake such a defence, will not be a fact of sufficient novelty, in our times, to excite surprise; for it would be ungrateful to charge it on defect of reverend instruction, if we

do not know that the play-house is one of our best Christian institutions. But there is something strikingly new in hearing a vindication of the stage from a clergyman, who connects it with a serious admonition that life should be employed in a preparation for eternity, with a zealous inculcation of the apostolic rule of doing all things to the glory of God, with an admission that the general quality of polite literature is decidedly adverse to Christian principles, and with an extended and very instructive illustration of the prevalence of this adverse, spirit in even the least exceptionable part of the English drama. If the reader's impression of the incompatibility of what we have here reported to him as combined, should lead him to suspect affectation in the religious parts of the compound, we must assure him there are the strongest marks of sincerity. This being believed, his surmises towards an explanation of such a phenomenon will probably terminate in a conjecture, that, in the preacher's youth, the drama must have inspired a passion so deep as to become like one of the original principles of his mind, which therefore, the judgment could never eradicate, nor ever inspect without an involuntary bias operating like a spell. And this is the explanation furnished by the preacher's long dedication, in which he adverts to the leading circumstances of his life, by way of accounting for his writing a book on such a subject, and with such a design.

In course of time he entered, at college, on the studies preparatory to the clerical profession, and obtained a parochial charge, in which his professional duties and studies began entirely to engross his thoughts," and yielding," he says, "to the prejudices of the world, I determined to relinquish in a great measure the amusement of the stage." He sold a large dramatic library in order to purchase better books, among which were Mrs. More's works, including her dialogue on amusements, and her most excellent preface to her tragedies; these tracts had a great influence on his mind, and for some years he wholly abstained from the amusement of the theatre. "The circumstances of his parish" suggested to him the possible utility of modifying to a moral purpose the most popular convivial songs, of which he has subsequently printed several volumes, with the required expurgations and additions, under the title Vocal Repository. This occupation revived his attention to the drama, which he had never been persuaded entirely to condemn, though his opinion of it was somewhat al