Chap. XII.] Philosophij of the Human Mind. 183 



same, and announced it in his '' Fimt Truths,'' 

 as the only ground that could be taken in order 

 combat successfully des Cartes, Malebranelie, 

 and Locke. It must be owned, indeed, that But- 

 iier does not always speak of this faculty or power 

 in man in precisely the same terms with Dr. Keid 

 and his followers, nor can their different accounts 

 of the subject be in every case fully reconciled ; 

 yet there is, doubtless, such a similarity between 

 the ideas of the learned Jesuit and those of the 

 celebrated British divine, that the merit of c'W^i- 

 nalUy can hardly be yielded to the latter * To 

 Dr. Reid, however, and some contemj)orary phi- 

 losophers, the honour undoubtedly belongs of 

 liaving more fully explained the grand principle 

 upon M'hich their system turns ; of having extend- 

 ed its application ; and of having deduced its con- 

 sequences in a more exphcit and systematic man- 

 ner f . 



* See Additional Notes— CI I.J 



f See First Truth, &c., translated from the French of Perc 

 Buffier by an anonymous hand, 8vo, London, 1/80. The trans- 

 lator of this work, in a long prefatory discourse, endeavours to 

 fasten the charges oi Plagiarism, Cunccahiicnt, and Ingratitude, on 

 doctors Reid, Beatfie, and Oswald, with a degree of zeal, acri- 

 mony, and contemptuous sneer, by no means honourable to him- 

 self. He represents them as indebted to Buffier for the substance 

 of all they have written. Whoever this violent assailant is, lie 

 certainly does them i;ijustice. To exculpate those gentlemen 

 wholly from the charge of plagiarism would not perhaps be easy ; 

 but to push the charge so far as he does, and especially to treat 

 their general character and merits as he permits himself to do, 

 cannot fail to disgust every candid reader. After all tliat he has 

 advanced concerning pere Buffier, the impartial inquirer will 

 find such a degree of originality in the works oi the celebrated 

 Scottish metaphysicians, especially tliose of Dr. Reid^ as ought 

 to secure to them a high and lasting rcpuUtion. 



The 



