INTRODUCTION. 5 



again; that old systems are daily revived, clothed 

 in new dresses, decorated with new names, and 

 palmed on the world as creatures of modern birth ; 

 and that very few^ of the boasted efforts of genius, 

 cither in Solomon's days, or at any subsequent 

 period, could be called entirely original. The 

 smallest acquaintance with history is sufficient to 

 convince any one that this is a just representation. 

 That there are some things peculiar to certain 

 periods and countries, will not be disputed; but 

 that these are fewer in number, and the peculiarity 

 much smaller in degree, than transient observers 

 imagine, is certainly also true. Hence arises a 

 further difficulty in deciding wherein one age dif- 

 fers from another. History is not an instructress 

 sufficiently minute and patient to enable us always 

 to judge promptly and accurately on this subject. 



" It affords some astonishment," says a late 

 writer, " and much curious speculation, to the re- 

 ^' fleeting mind, that, probably, not a system of 

 " philosophy exists among the moderns, which had 

 *' not its foundation laid upon some one opinion or 

 *' another of the ancient theorists, and the outlines 

 " of which may not be found in such of their writ- 

 *' ings as have come down to our time. Even the 

 " Newtonian doctrine of gravitation was not un- 

 " known to Lucretius ; for that poet, in his first 

 *' book, attempts to refute the idea that the uni- 

 " verse had a centre, to which all things tend by 

 " their natural gravity. That the central point 

 *' had the strongest power of attraction was equally 

 *' an hypothesis of Sir Isaac Newton and the an- 

 *^ cicnt stoics."^ The ingenious writer might have 

 extended his remark much further, and have gone 

 into a very amusing detail on this subject. Some 

 facts, tending to confirm his position, will appear in 



b Drake's Literary Hours, vol. i. p. 12, 13. 



