﻿ATTENDING 
  THE 
  EXERCISE 
  OF 
  THE 
  SENSES. 
  527 
  

  

  the 
  language 
  of 
  Hume 
  and 
  others 
  having 
  been 
  merely 
  metaphorical, 
  — 
  and 
  should 
  

   have 
  pronounced, 
  on 
  that 
  ground, 
  the 
  claim 
  of 
  Dr 
  Reid 
  to 
  a 
  refutation 
  of 
  their 
  

   scepticism 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  inadmissible, 
  without 
  making 
  the 
  least 
  reference 
  to 
  Mr 
  

   Stewart's 
  answer 
  to 
  the 
  very 
  same 
  objection 
  when 
  made 
  by 
  Priestley, 
  and 
  with- 
  

   out 
  mentioning 
  the 
  passages 
  in 
  Reid 
  and 
  other 
  authors 
  to 
  which 
  Mr 
  Stewart 
  had 
  

   referred, 
  as 
  the 
  true 
  exposition 
  of 
  this 
  argument, 
  — 
  if 
  he 
  had 
  read 
  or 
  reflected 
  on 
  those 
  

   passages 
  in 
  Mr 
  Stewart's 
  writings 
  ; 
  and 
  yet 
  they 
  were 
  published 
  in 
  his 
  Philosophi- 
  

   cal 
  Essays 
  in 
  the 
  summer 
  of 
  1810, 
  i. 
  e., 
  some 
  months 
  before 
  the 
  first 
  course 
  of 
  lec- 
  

   tures 
  which 
  Dr 
  Brown 
  delivered 
  as 
  Professor 
  of 
  Moral 
  Philosophy 
  in 
  Edinburgh. 
  

   But 
  those 
  who 
  are 
  aware 
  of 
  the 
  peculiar 
  sensitiveness 
  of 
  Dr 
  Brown's 
  physical 
  con- 
  

   stitution, 
  of 
  the 
  painful 
  effort 
  which 
  he 
  made 
  to 
  prepare 
  his 
  lectures 
  for 
  that 
  first 
  

   course, 
  and 
  of 
  his 
  unwillingness 
  at 
  any 
  subsequent 
  time 
  to 
  revert 
  to 
  that 
  part 
  

   of 
  his 
  subject, 
  on 
  which 
  indeed 
  his 
  lectures 
  subsequently 
  underwent 
  only 
  verbal 
  

   alterations, 
  will 
  feel 
  no 
  difficulty 
  in 
  understanding, 
  that 
  one 
  of 
  Mr 
  Stewart's 
  

   essays 
  (the 
  second 
  in 
  the 
  volume 
  of 
  Philosophical 
  Essays 
  published 
  in 
  1810), 
  and 
  

   the 
  notes 
  to 
  it, 
  may 
  either 
  not 
  have 
  been 
  read, 
  or 
  read 
  so 
  hastily 
  as 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  

   speedily 
  forgotten 
  by 
  Dr 
  Brown, 
  and 
  never 
  recurred 
  to 
  his 
  mind 
  when 
  he 
  was 
  

   either 
  revising 
  his 
  lectures, 
  or 
  preparing 
  the 
  short 
  abstract 
  of 
  this 
  portion 
  of 
  

   them 
  which 
  was 
  published 
  only 
  a 
  few 
  months 
  before 
  his 
  death. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  only 
  doing 
  justice 
  to 
  the 
  candour 
  and 
  discernment 
  of 
  the 
  late 
  Dr 
  Welsh 
  

   to 
  observe, 
  that 
  in 
  stating, 
  in 
  his 
  life 
  of 
  Dr 
  Brown, 
  the 
  argument 
  drawn 
  from 
  what 
  

   he 
  considered 
  to 
  be 
  only 
  the 
  metaphorical 
  use 
  of 
  the 
  term 
  Idea, 
  in 
  opposition 
  to 
  

   Dr 
  Reid's 
  argument, 
  he 
  took 
  notice 
  of 
  what 
  he 
  termed 
  " 
  the 
  defence 
  of 
  Reid's 
  

   views, 
  contained, 
  as 
  if 
  by 
  anticipation, 
  in 
  Mr 
  Stewart's 
  Philosophical 
  Essays," 
  — 
  

   i. 
  <?., 
  contained 
  in 
  a 
  work 
  published 
  before 
  Dr 
  Brown's 
  lectures 
  containing 
  that 
  

   argument 
  were 
  delivered, 
  if 
  not 
  before 
  they 
  were 
  written. 
  It 
  was 
  perhaps 
  un- 
  

   fortunate 
  that 
  Dr 
  Welsh 
  merely 
  referred 
  to 
  Mr 
  Stewart's 
  argument, 
  and 
  to 
  

   some 
  of 
  the 
  extracts 
  from 
  former 
  authors 
  by 
  which 
  it 
  was 
  supported, 
  without 
  

   quoting 
  them, 
  or 
  expressing 
  any 
  opinion 
  of 
  his 
  own 
  on 
  the 
  subject. 
  (See 
  Life 
  of 
  

   Dr 
  Brown, 
  p. 
  259.) 
  And 
  it 
  is 
  still 
  more 
  unfortunate 
  that 
  Mr 
  Stewart 
  him- 
  

   self, 
  in 
  the 
  essay 
  in 
  question, 
  and 
  the 
  notes 
  to 
  it, 
  although 
  he 
  refers 
  to 
  the 
  pas- 
  

   sages 
  in 
  Reid's 
  writings, 
  which 
  I 
  shall 
  presently 
  quote, 
  as 
  containing 
  the 
  true 
  

   statement 
  of 
  his 
  argument, 
  did 
  not 
  quote 
  any 
  of 
  his 
  words. 
  

  

  IV. 
  But 
  farther, 
  keeping 
  always 
  in 
  mind 
  that 
  Dr 
  Reid's 
  avowed 
  object 
  was, 
  

   not 
  to 
  prove 
  by 
  reasoning 
  the 
  existence 
  of 
  the 
  material 
  world 
  (which 
  he 
  expressly 
  

   avowed 
  to 
  be 
  impossible), 
  but 
  only 
  to 
  confute 
  the 
  argument 
  which 
  represented 
  

   that 
  belief 
  as 
  an 
  absurdity, 
  I 
  would 
  observe 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  quite 
  a 
  misconception 
  

   to 
  suppose, 
  as 
  both 
  Dr 
  Brown 
  and 
  Lord 
  Jeffrey 
  did, 
  that 
  " 
  the 
  destruction 
  of 
  

   the 
  Ideal 
  Theory" 
  was 
  what 
  constituted 
  " 
  the 
  confutation 
  of 
  the 
  reasoning 
  of 
  

   Berkeley 
  and 
  Hume." 
  Dr 
  Reid 
  was 
  perfectly 
  aware 
  that 
  the 
  word 
  Idea, 
  in 
  that 
  

  

  