120 EXAMlNAnON of an HISTORICAL HrPOTHESIS 



from clear and well authenticated records : But, at the fame 

 time, as in matters of hiflory we have not always that bed kind 

 of evidence on which to'found our belief, we are from neceffity 

 often compelled to refort to tiiis inferior, circumftantial and 

 analogical fpecies of probation, in order to form to ourfelves a 

 rational creed on many matters of doubt, on which the mind is 

 unwilling to reft in abfolute uncertainty. 



This latter fpecies of evidence, too, has its recommendation, 

 from that pleafmg exercife which it gives to the reafoning 

 powers : for there is no mental occupation which demands more 

 ingenuity, if we coiiftrucfl: ourfelves this artificial fabric of ar- 

 gument, or requires more judgment, if we attempt to analyze 

 and examine its foundations when reared by another. The 

 ftrucSure of an hypothefis of our own is a delightful occupation 

 to the mind ; and a pleafure, perhaps very little inferior to this, 

 is the critical examination of an hypothefis framed by another. 

 We proceed to either undertaking with a zeal, refembling that 

 which is felt by the adventurer on a voyage of difcovery. We 

 perfevere in it with an ardour whicli increafes with the difficxxl- 

 CJes we encounter. Like the adventurer, too, we find our chief 

 reward in the refearch itfelf, whatever may be the actual value 

 or real importance of its ultimate objedt. 



Of the truth of thefe obfervations I have myfelf had full ex- 

 perience, while, at a feafon when I thought myfelf warranted in 

 feeking an amufing exercife of the mind, I began to read over, 

 with fome attention, an elaborate work that I had formerly but 

 haftily perufed, the Memoires pour la Vie de Petrarque, by the 

 Abbe de Sade ; a compofition which affords one of the moft 

 remarkable examples of an hiftorical hypothefis, fupported by 

 that compound fpecies of evidence I have mentioned, which 

 confifts in the combination of certain authenticated fadts, with 

 critical reafoning on the import of various doubtful and con- 

 tending authorities. As the examination of this hypothefis, and 



the 



