524 BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT 



-strong a barrier of causes, both moral and physical, the alarm 

 was general and indiscriminate. The progress of knowledge 

 was supposed by many to be the cause of the disorder ; pane- 

 gyrics on ignorance and prejudice were openly pronounced; 

 the serious and the gay joined in declaiming against reason 

 and philosophy ; and all seemed to forget, that when reason 

 and philosophy have erred, it is by themselves alone that their 

 errors can be corrected. 



The fears that had thus taken possession of mens' minds, 

 were often artificially increased. It was supposed that the ge- 

 neral safety depended on the general alarm ; that the more the 

 terror was extended, the more would the object of it be resist- 

 ed ; and hence, doubtless, many felt it their interest, and some 

 considered it their duty, to magnify the danger to which the 

 public was exposed. 



It is evident, that an inquiry into the causes of the French 

 Revolution, undertaken at a moment of such agitation, was 

 not likely to bear the review of times of calm and sober reflec- 

 tion. It was at this moment, however, and under the influ- 

 ence of such impressions, that Mr Robison undertook to ex- 

 plain the causes of that revolution. He was deeply affected 

 by the scenes that were passing before him. He possessed great 

 sensibility, and his mind, peculiarly alive to immediate im- 

 pressions, felt strongly the danger to which the social order of 

 every nation seemed now to be exposed. The crimes which 

 the name of Liberty had been employed to sanction, filled him 

 with indignation, and the contempt of religion, affected by 

 many of the leaders of the Revolution, wounded those senti- 

 ments of piety which he had uniformly cherished from his 

 early youth. 



In such circumstances, a mind accustomed to inquire into 

 causes, as his had long been, could not abstain from the at- 

 tempt 



