OF THE LATE PROFESSOR ROBISON. 531' 



own place. Those goveiiiments in which there is no political 

 liberty, and where the people have no influence, are all una- 

 voidably in the fii'st of these predicaments : those in which 

 there is a broad basis of liberty, naturally belong to that in 

 which the balance re-establishes itself. The same weight, that 

 of the people, which in the first case tends to overset the ba- 

 lance, tends in the second to restore it : and hence, probably, 

 the great difference between the result of the French Revolu- 

 tion, and of the revolutions which formerly took place in this 

 country. 



It will be happy for mankind, if they learn from these disas- 

 ters, the great lessons which they seem so much calculated to 

 enforce, and if while the people reflect on the danger of sud- 

 den innovation, their rulers consider, that it is only by a gra- 

 dual reformation of abuses, and by extending, rather than 

 abridging, the liberties of the people, that a remedy can be 

 provided against similar convulsions. 



But I return willingly from this digression, to those branches 

 of knowledge, where, in describing what Mr Robison has 

 done, the language of truth and of praise will never be found 

 at variance with one another. 



In autumn 1799, this country had the misfortune to lose 

 one of its brightest ornaments, Dr Black, who had laid the 

 foundation of the Pneumatic Chemistry, and discovered the 

 principle of Latent Heat. The Doctor had published very 

 little ; and his discoveries were more numerous than his writ- 

 ings. His lectures, however, had drawn much attention ; they 

 presented the first philosophical views of chemical science; 

 they were remarkable for their perspicuity and elegance, and 

 this, joined to the simplicity and gracefulness of manner in 

 which they were delivered, made them universally admired. 



It 



