]805.] Ogle's Gems. — On Mr. Lojt'i Cnfure of the Inquirer. 121 

 To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



IN anlwer to a Correfponoent in your 

 Number for July (p. 540). wiio in- 

 quires tonceining *' Dole's Gems," I 

 betj leave to inform you, t)iat the plates 

 were engiaved as far as one hundretl I'ub- 

 jefls of gems, which, with the tiile-pjge, 

 are numbered to one hundrnl and one, of 

 which I h.:v,e a copv now bstoieir-.e ; but 

 the ler'e-pref' includes on!y frty iWbjeits, 

 making the firft volume. No ir.oie svas 

 eviT pr!n'ed, and prcb:ibly no more was 

 ever wriiten. The fafl appears to he, 

 tha? Du Bofc, for whom the work wai 

 compilrd by Mr. Ogle, being an engraver, 

 his part of the undertaking was extcuted ; 

 but the printing of the letter-prds was 

 attended with greater expences than the 

 er,courage:ii€nt the work met with would 

 juftity, I am, Sec. 



An Old Engraver. _ 

 July •so, 1805. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Ma^^azine. 



SIR, 



IT was natural that the doftrines of 

 Berkeley fliould find a chainoion in 

 Mr. Lcfft, who is, it ftenis, an ideali;! 5 

 but for wh:it reafon he fh:)iild now pro- 

 le('s himl'clf a Lockilt, uniel's f.^r the fake 

 of teafing, t'r.e Inquirer is at a lofs to con- 

 jecture. His ambidexter hoftility may 

 fling ohjefiions from cppofite quarters j 

 hut on this cccalion it u furciy leie- 

 handcd. 



Mr. LofFt htis begim with a philological 

 cenfu.'-e (Monthly Mag. vol. xix. p. 553) 

 on the conparifon of the adjective 

 * fiirple.' Tnis word is derived iromfne, 

 wiihjut, and plexus, folded j it mear.s, 

 therefore, ' foldleis,' ' not folded.' To 

 have more or fewer folds is qn obj:6l of 

 prafticable co-npirifon. Where is the 

 impropriety of writing, — ' The coarfe 

 garment of a philjf. piier, wjien imitated 

 in innrble, forms a Ampler coftume tnan 

 the tunic of a;i emprefs.' — ' Water once 

 pa.led for the fimplcft of elemental fub- 

 ttance* ; h no/.- p:ifl';s for compoimd.' 



If thefe in!ta:xes do not fstisfy, ihe 

 Word • fingle' csn be (uhftitufed, and the 

 queflion put in anjiher f^rm : — ' Are 

 ideas of ftnfation fingle, or are ideas of 

 abftrailion firgk ?' Had the topic of 

 inquiry been lu worded, Mr. Lofft's ob- 

 jcilion agunlt the comparifon of ' fmglc' 

 would have appeared raiionil ; but in 

 this cafe, the I- quirer, who is not an in- 

 afteniive writer, would hardly hive been 

 guibyot C'jmpaiing the won). Although 



Monthly Mac. No. 133. 



fmglenefs has not, fimplicity has, d^grses : 

 Jo has complexity, wjii-.h is the antithetic 

 word. Burnet conceived " that great tna- 

 chin; of the wo: Id to :-ave been once in a 

 fta'e of gie.ter fimolicity ;" and Lo:ke, 

 whofe uie of 1 niguage Mr. Lofft pie- 

 tcnls to approve, in the fevcnth c'upter 

 of -the fourth bo;,k, intltled " Maxims," 

 has twice compared the word ' fimple' in 

 one fcntence : — " But whether they come 

 it view of ths mind e^rlitr or later, this 

 is true of them, that they are all kno vn 

 by their native evidence, are wholly inde- 

 pendent, receive nj light, nor are capible 

 of any proof oie frorn ano ner j much 

 Itfs the more part'cular from the more ge- 

 neral, or the more fi.nple from the m re 

 compounded : the more iimple and kfs 

 abrtiaif being the mod familiar, and the 

 eafisr and eaiher ap.iehended." 



Mr. L (?(. rex' proceeds »o fay :— " An 

 idea of a tafte, a bitter tafie, f^r inftsnce, 

 is as (im,>le as that of a fmell ; an idc.i of 

 found, or light, as cither." Here he 

 himl'elf in fail coinpares the word fimple, 

 — "asilmple as." He empl lys terms, 

 which, according to his own account, are, 

 in tlteir (inS\ f-.nie, imintcliigible. 



To the Inquirer they do not ap,.ear un- 

 intelligible. But they imply miiaking 

 ideas of abftnction for ideas of fenfation : 

 thsy afcribe that fim.plicity which is true 

 of ideas of abftraclion, to ideas of fcnfa- 

 tion. 



A tafte is an idea of abftraftion. 



To come at this fimple idea, there muft 

 be an omiilion of the i'weetnefi or four- 

 nefs, of the greafinefs or aftii^gency, of 

 the fuilbmenefs or bitternefs, whxh con- 

 ftituted an attribute of the primary idea 

 of fcnfation, Ser.fation is converf^nt only 

 with individuals ; with the Intiey cr vi- 

 negar, the oil or wine, the yolk or gall, 

 which are a-ppiicd to the palate. Sp.ci.'ic 

 talfcs, linells, ir.unds, or colours, a-.e in- 

 deed ideas of fenfatim, as oily, nmfkv, 

 croaking, violet ; but tafte, fmell, foy.d, 

 hue, are thcinfelves ideas of abftraffion. 



In this the Irquirer agrees entirely 

 with Locke, -jvhoie language on thij h ad 

 is every wheredefinitc and unmi(t(-.k;able, 

 T.ike as one iniiance a paflage in the I'e- 

 cond book (c. i. § 4.). " Thefe two, 

 I fay, viz. external maierial things, as 

 the obj.iTts of fenfition ; and the opera- 

 tions of our own minds within, as the 

 obje^fs of reflection ; ara 10 me the only 

 originils, from whence all our ideas take 

 their beginning." It is plain, that, 

 whatever it not an external material thing, 

 is not, in Locke's op nijn, an object of 

 fiDlatioii, and coiifequenlly that every 

 Q^ idea 



