196 Biagraphkal Sketch of the late Dugald Stewart, Esq. 



life, so favourable to the pursuits of science, Mr Stewart seems 

 to have begun with earnestness to prepare for the press the 

 first of that series of works by which he has been so highly 

 distinguished. In 1792 he pubhshed the first volume of his 

 Elements of' the Philosophy of the Human Mind. In this work 

 he has stripped the science of the Human Mind of much of that 

 mystery and paradox in which it had been involved ; and while 

 he has treated its most important and difficult topics with all 

 the depth and clearness of mathematical talent, he has, at the 

 same time, enriched his speculations with the stores of his va- 

 ried learning, and adorned them with all the elegancies of his 

 classical taste. This volume contains a review of the Intellec- 

 tual Powers of Man. On many important points, Mr Stewart's 

 views necessarily coincided with those of his illustrious master ; 

 but while he treated the opinions of Dr Reid with all the 

 veneration of a disciple, he never scrupled to examine them 

 with the freedom of an equal, and to advocate opposite opi- 

 nions, or strike into a new train of thought, into which he had 

 been led by a more profound or a more ingenious investigation. 

 In this, as well as the other two volumes of his work, Mr 

 Stewart's great aim was to vindicate the principles of human 

 knowledge against the attacks of modern sceptics, and to lay a 

 solid foundation for a rational system of logic. 



This first volume of Mr Stewart's work did not excite that 

 notice to which its own merit and the high reputation of its 

 author unquestionably entitled it. The Philosophy of the 

 Mind was then a subject of comparatively little interest, and 

 though divested of its usual repulsive aspect, it was not consi- 

 dered, as it is now, a necessary branch of a polite education. 

 The long interval of twenty-one years, which elapsed between 

 the publication of the first and the second volume, and the 

 publication of his volume of Philosophical Essays at an inter- 

 mediate period, may afford us some reason for believing that 

 Mr Stewart had abandoned the prosecution of his plan. 



The continuity of his studies was, indeed, interrupted by a 

 series of biographical works, which almost necessarily devolved 

 upon him. The first of these was, An Account of the Life and 

 Writings of Dr Adam Smithy the celebrated author of the 

 Wealth of Nations. This memoir, which occupies 82 quarto 



