Ctap. X. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 167 



13 the Subjedl of the propofition. And as to fylloglfm, I do not re- 

 member that, in either of his two volumes, he has fo much as men- 

 tioned the word; or, if he has named it, I am fure he did not un- 

 derftand it. He has, however, told us what truth is, that it is the 

 perception we have of the agreement or difagreement of our ideas. 

 If the reader is fatisfied with this account of truth, he will think that 

 Ariftotle has employed his time very ill in writing, upon the fubje^t, 

 all the books that I have mentioned*, making altogether a con- 

 fiderable volume ; and he will pity me (if he does not defpife me) 

 for having beflowed fo much time and fludy in explaining thofe 

 books, when I ought to have been fatisfied with what Mr Locke 

 has told us in fo few words. I fhould agree with him if I could be 

 convinced that any art or fcience could be perfedtly well pradtifed 

 by any perfon by mere cuftom and habit, without having learned 

 the principles of the art. That the art of language cannot be fo 

 pradifed, and that no man can be fure that he fpeaks corredly with- 

 out having learned the grammatical art, muft be allowed. Now, 

 that the exercife of the difcurfive faculty of the mind, or what we 

 call reafoning^ is an art, and a very great art, being the foundation 

 of all arts and fciences, cannot be denied: And, therefore, I fay 

 that no man, by mere cuftom or habit, by w^hich, and which only, 

 moft men reafon as well as fpeak, can be fure that he reafons well ; 

 nor can he corred himfelf, or any other man, when he reafons ill, 

 without having learned the art of reafoning. 



Though Mr Locke has faid fo little of that faculty of the mind, by 

 which we compare our ideas, and form of them reafoning and argu- 

 ment, he has faid a great deal concerning ideas themfelves; and, I think, 

 they are a neceflary part of Logic, as they are the materials of propofi- 

 tions,of fyllogifms,and of all our knowledge. Of ideas I propofe to treat 

 in this chapter; which is the more neceffary, that, though Ariftotle has 



made 



* Page 161. 



