NOTE D. [vii] 



King had, in his nature, so little reverence or esteem for anti 

 quity, and did in truth so much contemn old orders, forms, 

 and institutions, that the objections of novelty rather advanced 

 than obstructed any proposition. He was a great lover of new 

 inventions and thought them the effects of wit and spirit, and 

 fit to controul the superstitious observation of the dictates of 

 our ancestors. So that objection made little impression. 



So Jeremy Bentham, in his Fallacies, says : What in com 

 mon language is called old time, ought (with reference to any 

 period at which the fallacy in question is employed) to be called 

 young or early time. As between individual and individual 

 living at the same time and in the same situation, he who is old 

 possesses, as such, more experience than he who is young ; as 

 between generation and generation, the reverse of this is true, 

 if, as in ordinary language, a preceding generation be, with 

 reference to a succeeding generation, called old; the old or 

 preceding generation could not have had so much experience as 

 the succeeding. With respect to such of the materials or 

 sources of wisdom which have come under the cognizance of 

 their own senses, the two are on a par : with respect to such 

 of those materials and sources of wisdom as are derived from 

 the reports of others, the later of the two possesses an indis 

 putable advantage. In giving the name of old or elder to 

 the earlier generation of the two, the misrepresentation is not 

 less gross, nor the folly of it less incontestible, than if the name 

 of old man or old woman were given to the infant in its cradle. 

 What then is the wisdom of the times called old ? Is it the wis 

 dom of grey hairs ? No. It is the wisdom of the cradle.&quot; 



And Lord Bacon, enjoying the prospect of the progress 

 of learning, speaks beautifully to the same effect See vol. If. 



p. 297. 



NOTE D. 



Hodges in his travels in India, says, While I was pursuing 

 my professional labours in Benares, I received information of 

 a ceremony which was to take place on the banks of the river, 

 and which greatly excited my curiosity. I had often read and 

 repeatedly heard of that most horrid custom, amongst, per- 



