ately for the British government, were uttered in vain. In the domain of pure literature, the "Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful" is the best known of his works.

Thomas Reid (1710-96), a Scottish philosopher, instituted a reactionary movement directed equally against the idealism of Berkeley and the materialism of Hume, which has been called "The Philosophy of Common Sense." He was followed by his countryman Dugald Stewart (17531828), who had as a student attended his lectures, and who improved upon his methods, while following out the same general lines of thought. The third member of this distinguished trio was Thomas Brown (1778-1820), who had been a student under Professor Stewart, and is best known by his essay on "Cause and Effect." He succeeded Stewart as professor of moral philosophy at the University of Edinburgh.

William Cobbett (1762-1835) was a political writer of great vigor, and acquired immense popularity with the working classes by the rough energy with which he abused the government. He edited a periodical called "The Register." He spent some years in this country, where he was repeatedly tried for libel, and in one of the cases was fined $5000 for saying that the celebrated Dr. Rush of Philadelphia killed nearly all the patients he attended. Returning to England, he was repeatedly fined and imprisoned, but he never ceased publishing his paper, even while he was in America, which he again visited; this time to avoid being arrested for debt. While here he wrote an "English Grammar;" a work apparently so much needed that ten thousand copies were sold in a month.

Adam Smith (1723-90), also a Scotchman by birth, claims a place among the philosophers by reason of his "Theory of Moral Sentiments," but is better known as the founder of the science of political economy, as discussed in his book, "The Wealth of Nations;" still a

standard treatise and the best known work on its theme.

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was the apostle of utilitarianism. He began life as a lawyer, but his intense disapproval of English law, as it then existed, made it impossible for him to identify himself with it, and for forty years he was the fierce and active opponent of the whole system. Among his many works the best known is the "Theory of Legislation." His ideas may be summed. up in the expression that what is to be sought for in all law - making is "the greatest good of the greatest number." Thomas Paine (1737-1809) passed much of his life in America, was a warm advocate of its separation from Great Britain, which he supported in his pamphlet entitled "Common Sense," and later wrote a popular book, called "The Rights of Man," in defence of the French Revolution. William Godwin (1756-1836) wrote a work on "Political Justice," which did much toward shaping the thought of the time, and awakening attention to the rights of the people, as distinguished from the demands. of the privileged classes. In his novel of "Caleb Williams" he urges the same ideas, and has succeeded in making a most interesting story, not only without love, but almost without a female character. His wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (1759–97), a woman of great ability, wrote (before her marriage to him), "Thoughts on the Education of Daughters," and "A Vindication of the Rights of Women." Many of her ideas on these subjects, though considered revolutionary at the time, are now commonly accepted.

Among theologians the most noted (after Bishop Butler) is William Paley (1743-1805), an acute thinker and powerful writer. "The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy," "A View of the Evidences of Christianity," and "Natural Theology" are his principal works.

Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), an eminent Unitarian min

ister, was also an explorer in the domain of physics, and is especially known as the discoverer of oxygen, a revelation which opened the way for an immense advance of knowledge in the direction of natural science. He was a man of great learning, and a fearless seeker after truth. Espousing the side of the French Revolution, he incurred the enmity of an ignorant mob in Birmingham, who burned his house and chapel, and with them all his most valuable possessions. He and his family escaped, and afterward came to Pennsylvania, where he spent the last ten years of his life.

The eighteenth century was rich in good letter - writers. There was a leisurely tone about life, for all who were not obliged to work for their daily bread, which encouraged this graceful accomplishment.

Of these famous letter - writers, the earliest was Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1690-1762), daughter of the Duke of Kingston. She began her social life almost in her babyhood, her father sending to bring her from the nursery at the close of his dinner - parties, when he would make her stand on the table and recite or chatter for the amusement of his guests. She married Edward Wortley Montagu, and spent some years in Turkey, where he was ambassador, bringing with her from that country into England the system of inoculation for small-pox. Her letters, both when abroad and at home, are full of gayety, wit and good sense, and are written with that ease and naturalness which are essentials to good letter - writing. She was for some time the friend of Pope, but when he injudiciously made love to her, she laughed at him and so made him her bitter enemy. The poet Gray, of whom we have already spoken, wrote beautiful letters, as did Cowper, of whom we shall speak later. The most illustrious of the group was Horace Walpole (1717-97), son of Sir Robert Walpole, so long Prime Minister of England. Though not born to fortune, he lived "on the fat of the land," having a large income from

government posts given him by his father. Being fond of literature, his taste and knowledge were cultivated in every possible way; by travel, study, and intercourse with the best minds of his time, at home and abroad. He built at Twickenham a Gothic villa called Strawberry Hill, on which he lavished money and taste until it became one of the curiosities of England, and it was shown as such until late in the present century. His "Letters," which fill nine large volumes, touch upon almost every point of interest in the political and social life of the time, and are written in racy, sparkling English which puts him in the front rank among the authors of his century. He tried his hand at only one fiction, "The Castle of Otranto," a wild Gothic romance which is interesting mainly because he wrote it. His "Anecdotes of Painting in England," with sketches of the lives of artists, is a standard work on the subject.

The letters written by Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) to his son, may be included among the achievements of this letter-writing century. They are intensely worldly, and might have been the work of a Pagan in the time of Cicero, but they are witty, brilliant and polished, showing great knowledge of the world and remarkable powers of observation. Lord Chesterfield was also a statesman of ability.

CHAPTER XXXV.

THREE GREAT HISTORIANS.

HE principal historians of this period form a group by themselves. Hume, Robertson and Gibbon (the first two Scotchmen) were a triad not often to be found in contemporary history, though more than equalled in our own century. Writing in different styles and on widely different topics, they were still all historians;

and each succeeded in giving to the time of which he wrote an interest until then unknown on any similar subject.

David Hume (1711-76), born at Edinburgh of an old Scottish family (who before him spelt the name Home), was a philosopher as well as a historian. He began his literary career with a "Treatise on Human Nature," and wrote essays on political, moral, and literary subjects. His principal work, the "History of England," was written in a curiously irregular way. He began with the first two Stuart kings (1603-49), writing from a strongly royalist point of view. This did not agree with the prevailing ideas of the time, and so few copies were sold during the first year that the author thought seriously of abandoning his country and exiling himself to France, under a feigned name, to conceal his mortification. After a while, however, the tide turned, and when he published the next instalment of his book, continuing the history to the Revolution (1688), it was better received. Next he wrote the story of the Tudors, and last of all he began with the time of Julius Cæsar and completed the whole. It was the first philosophical history of England that had ever been written, and made its author famous. The style is beautifully simple and clear, graceful and yet vivacious; but Hume is no longer regarded as an authority as to facts. He took statements as he found them with too little discrimination, and later and more painstaking historians have noted innumerable inaccuracies in his work. Still, there is no one history that will take its place. Many admirable books deal with different portions of the history of England, but no one continuous account of equal value exists covering that period of seventeen hundred years, so that Hume's history will for the present hold its place. Smollett's history is usually printed as a continuation of Hume's and brings the narrative down to 1765, the year of the American Stamp-Act.