4o8 Oft Phyftognomy, 



not well avoid, in order to make it fufficiently 

 comprehenfive ; and for the latter, I muft beg 

 leave to plead my numerous avocations which 

 have caufed me to compile it in hafte, and in 

 a very interrupted manner. 



Observations refpe51ing the History of 

 Physiognomy ; by Thomas Cooper, Efq. 



THE difpute among the Literati of the laft 

 century, on the comparative merit of the 

 ancients and moderns, has at length fubfided. 

 The few late attempts by fome of our writers * 

 to reinftate Plato and Ariftotle at the head 

 of the ranks of fcience, have been coolly 

 received ; and the moderns in general have 

 acquiefced in their own pre-eminence. There 

 feems indeed fome reafon for this decifion in our 

 own favour : and it will be readily acknow- 

 ledged, that within a century or two, we have 

 greatly extended the bounds of knowledge, by 

 contenting ourfelves with flow but fure advances, 

 and by relying upon faft and experiment in pre- 



• Harris Monboddo. 



ference 



