254 HUME. 



" This Theory, I own, replyd Cleanthes, has never before 

 occurd to me, tho* a pretty natural one; and I cannot 

 readily deliver any opinion abcut it upon so short an exami- 



deliver any opinion wilh regard to it 

 nation & reflection * You are very scrupulous indeed, said 



Were examine 



Philo : and .woie I to start objections and diffieultief to- any 



system of yours, I should not have acted with half that 

 in starting objections & difficulties to it 



caution and reserve * . However, if any thing occur to you, 



will 

 youH* oblige us by proposing it. 



between 

 " I allow of your comparison bctwist the Stoics & Sceptics, 



may 

 -ae just) replyd Philo. But you anuet observe, at the same 



time, that the mind cannot in Stoicism, support the highest 

 Flights of Philosophy, yet even when it sinks lower, it 

 still retains somewhat of its former Disposition; & the 



The Stoics -the Stoioo 



his The Cloic kis- will his 



effects of 4tfr A Reasoning A appear in A 4fcs- conduct in common 



thro' his 



Life, and A the whole Tenor of 4fe- actions. The Antient 



that of 

 A schools, particularly that of A Zeno, produced examples of 



Virtue & Constancy which seem astonishing to present 

 times." 



It is necessary to correct a very gross misstatement into 

 which some idle or ill-intentioned person has betrayed an in- 

 genious and learned critic respecting the papers of Mr. Hume 

 still remaining and in Edinburgh. " Those who have exa- 

 mined the Hume papers, which we know only from report, 

 speak highly of their interest, but add that they furnish pain- 

 ful disclosures concerning the opinions then prevailing among 

 the clergy of the northern metropolis ; distinguished ministers 

 of the Gospel encouraging the scoffs of their familiar friend, 

 the author of the ' Essay on Miracles/ and echoing the blas- 

 phemies of their associate the author of the * Essay on Sui- 

 cide.' " These Edinburgh clergymen are then called " be- 



