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the lustre of sensitive knowledge into the obscure mazes of 

 metaphysical criticism, we should first indulge it in the con- 

 templation of the splendor of mathematical demonstration, 

 then let it enjoy the milder and less irresistible light of phi- 

 losophical reasoning, and last of all commit it to those more 

 attenuated beams, that enliven the regions of taste and cri- 

 ticism. " The truth is," says Addison, " there is nothing 

 more absurd, than for a man to set up for a critic, without a 

 good insight into all the parts of learning, whereas many of 

 those, who have endeavoured to signalise themselves by works 

 of this nature among our English writers, are not only defi- 

 cient in the:abovementioned particulars, but plainly discover 

 by the phrases they make use of, and by their confused way 

 of thinking, that they are not acquainted with the most ob- 

 vious and ordinary systems of arts and sciences." Here we 

 have pointed out to us by the first great critic of our nation, 

 the fundamental cause of the errors of his predecessors ; he 

 refers it entirely to their " want of a good insight into all the 

 parts of learning." And if the opinion of such a man as 

 Addison wanted any support on such a subject as criticism, 

 the distinguished success with which it has been prosecuted 

 of late by men conspicuous for their scientific acquirements, 

 .is the strongest and most satisfactory corroboration of his 

 judgment. And the same elegant and ingenious author ob- 

 serves, that " it is not sufficient for a man who sets up for a 

 taste in criticism, to have perused the Ancient and Modern 

 Classics with attention, unless he has also a clear and logical 



